The Library is home to many works within collections which you can use without requesting any permission or additional license. This can be for one of two reasons:
We have compiled a list of collections that house works which are either in the Public Domain or covered by a Creative Commons License. Please use the in-line links provided to access these lists. To see the rights status and usage terms of any collections not on these lists, you will need to consult our catalog records or finding aids. The rights status and usage terms for individual works that have already been digitized can be found on Calisphere and our Digital Collections site. If you have any questions about rights status for a particular collection or work, please send an email to schol-comm@berkeley.edu.
The collections listed below are in the public domain—that is, they were never or are no longer protected by copyright. Under our policy, we do not require anyone to get our, or anyone else's, permission to use works that are in the public domain.
There are many collections and individual works within our collections that have not been added to this list. Please see the resources on the Copyright, Fair Use, and Your Project tab for more information about how to make your own public domain determination.
For any collection with a CC-BY 4.0 license, you do not need to ask the Library or anyone else for permission to make any use of the work. This license is designed for maximum dissemination and use of the works it covers. You can review the terms of the license here. No additional permission or license from the UC Regents or anyone else is needed to use these works, even if you are using the work for commercial purposes. You do not need to pay any fees, and no paperwork is necessary.
Although you do not need further permission to use materials with a CC-BY license, you do still need to attribute the creator and/or copyright holder in your use or citation of the work. You can find the specific required attribution line of each collection in the list below.
As of July 2022, all of Thérèse Bonney's work, regardless of where the work is located, is covered by the CC BY license. Large collections of her work may also be found at the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives and the Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris (BHVP).