The following guidelines are a guide to help people who use the Hudson Area Library’s History Room Collection for research, professional or other uses. The Hudson Area Library is dedicated to sharing its various collections in the History Room for educational purposes and the public good.

It is the responsibility of the user to determine the copyright status of materials in the Hudson Area Library History Room. The U.S. Copyright Office (www.copyright.gov) may be helpful in understanding copyright use. Users do not need to obtain permission to use materials that are in the public domain. For further information on public domain material see Copyright Terms and the Public Domain in the United States (https://copyright.cornell.edu/publicdomain). Users are responsible for contacting copyright holders to obtain permission for use. Users should note that in most cases, the Hudson Area Library does not hold the copyright for material in its collections. In these cases, the library cannot grant or deny permission to use them.

The Hudson Area Library can grant or deny permission to use materials when the library is the copyright holder. In these cases, the user should contact the library to obtain permission. It should be noted that when granting permission to publish, the library retains the right to publish the materials and to grant or deny other permission to publish them.

Whether or not the Hudson Area Library is the copyright holder, the library may charge a duplication fee to make digital and/ or paper copies for the user. This fee may include the cost of using staff time to provide the service.

A “fair use” exception is contained in the federal copyright law. This exception allows for the limited use of copyright materials for non-commercial purposes, such as teaching, scholarship, research, criticism, commentary, and news reporting. Users are responsible for determining if their use falls under the “fair use” guidelines. You may access the U.S. Copyright Office’s guide to fair use here: https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/more-info.html.

Apart from copyright, individuals possess privacy and publicity rights that are subject to New York State laws. In some cases, therefore, users will need to secure the consent of not only the copyright holder of the materials in question, but also of any third party who may be represented in those materials. It is the responsibility of the user to address these issues in their use of materials. Whether or not the Hudson Area Library holds a copyright in particular materials, users should credit the library as the repository of those materials by listing both the name of the relevant collection and the Hudson Area Library, as in the following example: The Neefus Photo Collection, Hudson Area Library.

Hudson Area Library librarians may be able to guide you to resources that will help you make a determination regarding copyright use. Inquiries can be directed to reference@hudsonarealibrary.org.

This copyright policy is based on the Permission to Publish Policy of the Archives & Special Collections Library of Vassar College and has been amended for our purposes with their permission.