Rights Statement Resources
Every item in the IDHH must include a rights statement in its metadata record. To make statements as clear as possible concerning use, permissions, and reproductions, the DPLA recommends using a standardized rights statement from either RightsStatements.org or the Creative Commons.
For most items in a digital collection, the standardized statements from RightsStatements.org will be most appropriate. Creative Commons licenses can be applied only by the rights holder while Rights Statements are designed for items in libraries, archives, and museums where the institution rarely holds the copyright.
PA Digital’s interactive Rights Statement Selection Tool provides step-by-step instructions for determining the rights status of an item [Interactive PDF].
CC-BY-2.0. Gabriel Galson, “Rights Statement Selection Tool,” 2018. http://bit.ly/RightsTool
URIs to Rights Statements or CC Licenses will allow the DPLA to easily populate the catalog display with data from the linked data endpoint. For detailed instructions about implementing rights statements for your contribution to the IDHH, see the DPLA Standardized Rights Statements Implementation Guidelines.
When assessing collections, the IDHH metadata manager will recommend one or more standardized rights statements that may be used instead or in addition to local rights statement(s). If you are a contributing new collections, we encourage you to follow this recommendation. If you have already contributed collections and want to remediate your metadata, implementing standardized rights statements is an excellent place to start. Please check out the resources here and contact the metadata manager for more information.
Please note that the IDHH can neither provide legal advice nor can we assist in creating original rights statements.
Additional Copyright Resources
- Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States
- IDHH Copyright and Standardized Rights Statements for Digital Collections (Video)
- Rights Statements Webinar (DPLA)
- IDHH Rights Statement Implementation Guide
The Rights Statement guide was created by Kaylen Dwyer, graduate assistant at Scholarly Communications and Publishing of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Library on June 13, 2019.