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Using the Digital Collections - Copyright, Use Guidelines

Rights and Permissions

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas University Libraries provides broad public access to collections as a contribution to education and scholarship. We welcome you to use materials in our collections that are in the public domain and to make fair use of copyrighted materials as defined by copyright law.

Much of the content represented on this site is protected by the U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.). Use of the materials may also be subject to other legal rights, for example, rights of publicity, privacy rights, or other legal interests. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Additional permissions for other rights may also be required.

While the UNLV Libraries often owns the materials in our collections, we usually do not own the copyright to these materials, except where it has been explicitly transferred to UNLV. The UNLV University Libraries makes digital versions of collections accessible in the following situations: they are in the public domain; the rights were transferred to UNLV; donors provided permission to make materials accessible; materials are made accessible for education and research purposes as a legal fair use; or there are no known restrictions on use.

As a user, you are solely responsible for determining the copyright status of materials and obtaining permission to use material from the copyright holder. Special Collections can not provide permission to publish or distribute materials when UNLV is not the copyright holder. Please see the Special Collections' page on Reproductions and Use. If you would like to use copyrighted material in a manner that exceeds fair use, you may contact us for additional information about the copyright status of an item, and we can help determine whether UNLV can provide you with permission to use an item.

Citing Online Items

Please credit us when you use an item. Here is a suggested citation format:

Creator’s Last name, First name. “Title of the digital item,” date of the item. Title of the website, Identifying number for the item. University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries, URL.

Example: Mackie, Robert Gordon and Ray Aghayan. “Costume design drawing, black and fuchsia feathered showgirl costume, Las Vegas,” 1974. Showgirls, sho000120. University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries, http://n2t.net/ark:/62930/d1fj29t52

How to Request High-Resolution Files

For certain collections, we have provided lower resolution files online to facilitate fair use of copyrighted items. If you would like to request a higher resolution file, please consult the Special Collections' page on Reproductions and Use for policies, fees and the request form.

Take-Down Policy

Parties who have questions or who wish to contest the use of specific works may contact the Director of Special Collections at special.collections@unlv.edu. Communication should include:

  1. 1. The full name and contact information of the requestor. If contacting us about copyright infringement, please identify yourself as the copyright owner, or include a statement that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
  2. 2. Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the Library to locate the material. Providing URLs in your communication is the best way to help us locate content quickly.
  3. 3. The reason for the request.

For both copyright infringement and privacy concerns, the Libraries may work with UNLV's Office of the General Counsel to make determinations about appropriate use. Depending on these determinations, the Libraries may remove the material(s) from its systems, restrict access to the material(s) in question, or continue to provide access to the material(s). Removing the work(s) in question may result in the Libraries ceasing to provide long-term preservation resources to the digitized content.