The College and the Library respect current copyright law and the protection of intellectual property. This guide is intended to provide relevant, common sense guidelines to help faculty and students use copyrighted materials legally. Copyright law is complicated, and compliance is the responsibility of individual members of the Dickinson community. Legal questions should be referred to the College General Counsel's office.
Most U.S. Federal government publications are not subject to copyright, though you should still cite them to avoid plagiarism. Federal government publications produced by an outside contractor MAY be copyrighted. State, county, and local government publication copyright varies with the jurisdiction, but some entities DO assert copyright.
The library provides guidance on use of library owned and licensed resources, and we maintain this general copyright informational web guide, but cannot provide specific legal advice.