Librarians/Lawyers/Those who know copyright better than I do

julie37619 · September 2013

I'm thinking that I'm going to make bookmarks to go with my banned books display that feature an image of the book with text about why it was banned. Do any of you know if there's any issue with me pulling book images off of the web (goodreads or amazon) to use for my bookmarks?

SusieBW · September 2013

I'm no copyright attorney, but I think that as long as you're not selling them or otherwise profiting from them, you should be fine.

taylormillgirl · September 2013

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but I think those images are copyrighted. When I had a cake made for my Sultry #1 launch party, I had to sign a waiver stating that I had the right to use my own book cover image. Otherwise, Kroger wasn't going to put it on my cake.

julie37619 · September 2013

I feel like as a librarian, maybe it's better to err on the side of caution? Any ideas for making bookmarks for specific books without using the book image? I've got the free licensed "Read Banned Books" ALA logo for the year at the bottom, but the top looks bare.

MrsC7 · September 2013

@julie37619 Maybe you can get the book covers from Wikipedia? I think those images are free to use.

ETA: Never mind, I'm wrong. But I think Wikimedia Commons has free images.

julie37619 · September 2013

Ok, how about this? I found a public use image of a pile of burning books...I'll do burning books at the top, the ALA logo at the bottom and just type in the title of each book and the reason it's banned. Not as cool as I was hoping for, but I really don't want to do anything to indirectly tell my students to take intellectual property that isn't their own.

sfgiantsjo · September 2013

Could you use stock images that represent the banned book? Like, a diary for "The Diary of Anne Frank" or a stock wolf for "Call of The Wild". Stuff like that?