Sharing Visual Arts Images for Educational Use: Finding a New Angle of Repose

November 15, 2007

The current issue of Educause Review features an article written by ARTstor's General Counsel, Gretchen Wagner. The article, "Sharing visual arts images for educational use: Finding a new angle of repose," discusses the implications of the practice of maintaining digital image repositories in higher education and the possibility of sharing these resources for teaching and scholarship under the protection of fair use.


Since the emergence of copystand photography in the 1940's universities have relied on the U.S. copyright doctrine of fair use to protect this practice of scanning images from books and other printed materials for use in the classroom. Fast forward nearly 70 years to the technology of digital scanning and distribution. In today's increasingly connected world the redundancy of so many institutions copying so many materials could be greatly reduced if the community as a whole would openly embrace the software tools and other mechanisms for collaborating across the field. Ms. Wagner outlines how her experiences with ARTstor content providers has convinced her that this is possible, and how ARTstor is one such mechanism for change.


The article is available online in full text through Educause Review.


Find more ARTstor reports and publications on our website.


Wagner, Gretchen. Sharing visual arts images for educational use: Finding a new angle of repose. Educause Review 42, no. 6 (2007): 84-104.