On Sunday I published a guide to locating media for use in classroom projects. In that guide I provided basic summaries of the concepts of public domain, Creative Commons, and fair use. In the section on fair use I referenced Stanford University Libraries’ Copyright & Fair Use guide. That guide should be bookmarked by anyone who has questions about copyright and fair use.

The guide covers everything from the basics of copyright to the nuances of fair use. There is even a section devoted to academic fair use that should be of particular interest to teachers who publish lessons online. In the guide you will find templates for requesting permission to use copyrighted works. Use the template if you’re in doubt about whether or not you can use someone else’s work. And if you’re looking to publish on your own website or blog, pay attention to the section titled Websites: Five Ways to Stay Out of Trouble.

Finally, if you’d like a copy of my guide to finding media to use in classroom projects, you can get a copy here as a Google Doc or here as a PDF.

Some of the resources featured in this guide are integral to my upcoming course Video Projects for Every Classroom.