Citing and attributing images we use is important, even if the images are freely available online or out of copyright and in the public domain. Click on the guide link below to learn how to cite or attribute images properly:
Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools.
Free, easy-to-use copyright licenses provide a simple, standardized way to give the public permission to share and use your creative work — on conditions of your choice. CC licenses let you easily change your copyright terms from the default of “all rights reserved” to “some rights reserved.”
Creative Commons licenses are not an alternative to copyright. They work alongside copyright and enable you to modify your copyright terms to best suit your needs.
This page contains information to help you locate images and multimedia in open or creative commons licensed for use for online and in-class projects.
Textbooks are not the only educational resources you might want to use in your class. Look below for ways to find audio, images, and video that can be freely used.
Locating and using openly licensed, creative commons, or public domain content is a great alternative to requesting permissions or doing a fair use analysis on copyrighted images or other educational content. The following sites are a good starting point for your search:
Openverse (formerly CC Search):
searches over 600 million openly licensed images from across the internet including Google, Flickr and more.
Look for Tools >> Usage Rights >> Creative Commons licenses
Be sure to use the License filter to locate Creative Commons or other reusable material.
A site that provides free, public domain images that don't even require attribution. Unfortunately, it also offers Shutterstock images, which aren't free, but they are clearly set off so I don't think users will find that too confusing. The search feature is particularly nice, supporting Boolean connectors and also the ability to search by predominant color of the image.
Stock photography featuring melanated women.
Featuring photos of Black and Brown people.
Featuring images of trans and non-binary models.
Below is a selection of free online video collections.
Below are streaming video databases that the UO Libraries subscribes to. All of the individual titles in the databases can be found in LibrarySearch.
More help: How to request a Kanopy video
1501 Kincaid Street
Eugene, OR 97403
P: 541-346-3053
F: 541-346-3485