Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. From the reuser’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, “What can I do with this work?”
From "About CC Licenses" by Creative Commons. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Creative Commons licenses are intended to make easy to share, use, and adapt material. Any material that uses a Creative Commons license will include a link to the license that explains, in plain language, how the material can be used. All licenses do require attribution. Creative Commons provides both a short guide to attribution (Creative Commons- Use & Remix) and an in-depth wiki with more information and examples (Best Practices for Attribution).
Creative Commons licenses allow individuals creators and institution an easy way to give public permission for other creators to share, use, adapt, and remix creative material. Using Creative Commons contributes to a healthy copyright ecosystem by proving clear guidelines for use that are easier to understand and far more expansive than what Fair Use would allow.
To decide what Creative Commons license to use, go to Creative Commons- Share Your Work and use the license chooser.
Citation
A citation allows authors to provide the source of any quotations, ideas, and information that they include in their own work based on the copyrighted works of other authors. The Oxford Living Dictionary defines it as a “…quotation from or reference to a book, paper, or author, especially in a scholarly work.”[1]
Citation is a common and long-time practice among scholars used to indicate where a resource is from and who the author is. Unlike an attribution, citation is typically used for copyrighted works with restricted rights or “all rights reserved.” In other words, it is used in works for which broad permissions have not been granted.
Attribution
Attribution is the cornerstone condition when using a resource or text released with an open-copyright license. This legal requirement states that users must attribute — give credit — to the creator of the work. An attribution statement is used to provide credit to the original creator; its purpose is similar to a citation. Best practice says that the statement should include the title of the work, name of the creator, and license type (with links to each). When using text from another open educational resource, be clear in your attribution statement what section of your textbook contains this information.
Adapted from Self-Publishing Guide by BCcampus, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License,
Meadville Lombard Wiggin Library
180 N. Wabash Ave.
Suite 625
Chicago, IL 60601
Library and Archives Phone: 312-546-6488 Library Email: library@meadville.edu Archives Email: archives@meadville.edu