Clark Family Library: Copyright & Creative Commons: Where to Find Creative Commons Materials

Searching for CC Media

Creative Commons licensed media can be found in many places online. Just look for the license logos. The list the the right is a suggestion of places to start your search and not an exhaustive list. If you need help determining whether or not you can use something you found without violating copyright protection, ask a librarian.

Resources

Library of Congress
This page features items from the Library's digital collections that are free to use and reuse. The Library believes that this content is either in the public domain, has no known copyright, or has been cleared by the copyright owner for public use.
New York Public Library Digital Collections
This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.
Looking for images you can reuse freely? You can browse just the items that have no known U.S. copyright restrictions. When searching, select the "Search only public domain items" option to filter your results to items with no known U.S. copyright restrictions. On the Browse page, you can easily turn this filter on and off with the “Show Only Public Domain” button in the upper left corner of the page.
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons is a collection of over 58 million media files to which anyone can contribute. Many of these files are licensed using Creative Commons or available in the Public Domain. Just check the license information for each file you want to use.

Images Sources

When selecting an image for use with your project consider how you want to use it. Is it for a non-commercial, educational project? Or are you using it to advertise and promote something? Choose the license that best fits your use when searching for images that fit your need. When it doubt, ask a librarian.

Art Institute of Chicago
Use the filters provided by the Art Institute of Chicago to limit your search results to items in the Public Domain.
Cleveland Museum of Art Images
Search images of artwork from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Some images are copyright restricted so you need to look at the license attached to each work.
Creative Commons Search
CC Search is a tool that allows openly licensed and public domain works to be discovered and used by everyone. CC Search searches across more than 300 million images.
Flickr Advanced Search
Flickr is an online photo management and sharing site. Users have the option of uploading and sharing their images using Creative Commons license. Use the advanced search function to limit your search by license type.
Google Images Advanced Search
Google Image search results can be limited using the Usage Rights function that is found by clicking on Tools.
NOT ALL IMAGES FOUND USING GOOGLE SEARCHES ARE LICENSED FOR REUSE. Make sure you check for license information on the page where the image lives.
National Gallery of Art Open Access Images
The National Gallery of Art has implemented an open access policy for digital images of works of art that the Gallery believes to be in the public domain. Images of these works are now available free of charge for any use, commercial or non-commercial. Users do not need to contact the Gallery for authorization to use these images.
New York Metropolitan Art Museum
Search the Open Access Artwork collection for images that can be reused.
Pixabay Free Images
Pixabay is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images and videos. All contents are released under the Pixabay License, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist - even for commercial purposes.
Wikimedia Commons
Search or contribute to an open database of media files.

Audio Resources

BBC Free Sound Effects Library
Content on this site is licensed for non-commercial, personal, or research purposes. It can also be used for formal education purposes.
ccMixter
This is a community music remixing site featuring remixes and samples licensed under Creative Commons licenses. You are free to download and sample from music on this site and share the results with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Some songs might have certain restrictions, depending on their specific licenses. Each submission is marked clearly with the license that applies to it.
Unminus
All music published on Unminus can be used for free. You can use it for commercial and non-commercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from the creator or Unminus. Crediting isn’t required, but is appreciated and allows artists to gain exposure. You just can’t sell or stream the music as it is or create a similar service like “Unminus” with this music.
Wikimedia Free Sound Resources
A list of sites where you can find audio resources that have licenses that fit with Wikipedia's guidelines.