The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.
Burns Library reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to refuse a reproduction request for any time for any reason, including without limitation if it has concerns the request may be a violation of copyright law.
John J. Burns Library will only supply permission letters for collection items when the Trustees of Boston College are the copyright holder and Burns Library has been authorized to act on their behalf. In most cases, John J. Burns Library is not the copyright holder of its collections. The original authors or their heirs may retain copyright to the materials.
Researchers are solely responsible for determining the copyright status of materials, determining fair use, and/or obtaining any permissions that may be required for quoting, copying, recording, photographing, filming, reproducing, publishing, performing, displaying, or distributing the materials. The researcher assumes full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.
By creating Burns Library accounts and using Burns Library services, researchers agree to indemnify and hold harmless Boston College, its agents and employees against all claims, demands, costs, and expenses incurred by copyright infringement or any other legal or regulatory cause of action arising from the use of photocopies or reproductions of Burns Library materials.
Burns Library staff are unable to provide in depth guidance on copyright/permissions. If researchers want to seek permission to use materials currently under copyright, it is their responsibility to identify, locate, and contact the copyright holder. The following resources may be of some assistance:
Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States (Cornell University)
The Digital Copyright Slider: Copyright Protection for Works Published in the USA
The WATCH File: Writers, Artists and Their Copyright Holders (University of Texas at Austin; University of Reading)
Copyright Renewal Records Database, 1950 - 1992, (Stanford University)
Best Practices for Locating Copyright Owners of Photographic and Visual Art (American Society of Picture Professionals)
Copyright and intellectual property rights have been transferred to the Trustees of Boston College for this collection. The Bobbie Hanvey Photographic Archives are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. John J. Burns Library grants you permission to use these images within these parameters, so please review the licensing language and conduct your own risk assessment
The citation format should be as follows: