Copyright
The State Library of NSW aims to be an innovative gateway to information and cultural enrichment, making the collection as accessible, open, connected and usable as possible.
Copyright and the Library collection
You may freely use material in the Library’s catalogue that is not in copyright for any purpose such as:
- a school project or thesis
- in a presentation to your local history society
- on blogs
- for commercial purposes.
Please acknowledge the creator and that the material is from the collections of the State Library of NSW. The Library does not endorse any inappropriate or derogatory use.
You are welcome to copy material, or order copies from the Library’s collections provided you meet the requirements of the exceptions such as research or study in:
- the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) and
- any special requirements that may apply to original, unpublished, culturally sensitive material, or material with donor rights agreements in place.
For material that is in copyright you will need to seek permission from the copyright owner for any other use. It is your responsibility to check the copyright status of material described in the catalogue. Copyright status may be undetermined if data in the Library’s catalogue record is incomplete or inaccurate.
Use of digital or digitised copies of in-copyright material that you may see in the Library catalogue requires a request for permission unless your use falls within one of the exceptions, such as research or study. This is because a copyright owner may have allowed us to put a copy on a Library website but not allowed us to authorise uses beyond research or study.
We endeavour to provide correct and up-to-date copyright information on all material in our collection. If you believe an item has incorrect copyright information, please contact us using our online feedback form.
Information on copyright provided by the Library does not constitute legal advice. If in doubt, seek legal advice before copying a work.
Copyright and Library websites
The Library also publishes a variety of materials on its websites, such as blogs, stories or images to promote upcoming events and exhibitions. Some of these materials are created by people or organisations who retain their copyright in this material and have given permission for the Library to use it for specific purposes, and reuse of it requires permission from the rights owners.
However unless stated otherwise, the content created by the Library on this website is licenced under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. Under this licence, you are free to copy, distribute, remix and build upon this content if you acknowledge the State Library of NSW
Take-down requests
The Library sometimes uses material for which it does not own the copyright on its websites. We have made genuine efforts to contact all copyright owners to obtain permission for these materials. If you are concerned that you have found material in the State Library of New South Wales catalogue or on a Library website which you think is in breach of copyright law, please contact us in writing stating:
- your contact details
- full description and details of the material
- the nature of your concern.
You can submit your request via the online feedback form, marked to the attention of the Senior Advisor, Strategy and Government Relations
Or addressed to:
Senior Advisor, Strategy and Government Relations
State Library of New South Wales
1 Shakespeare Place
Sydney NSW 2000
Australia
For more information about the process, see the policy for Take-down Requests.
On this page
Copyright Toggle list
Related pages
About Copyright Toggle list
Your responsibilities Toggle list
- Do I need permission to copy?
- Copying material from the Library’s published collections
- Material with additional copying restrictions
- Copying works with Indigenous cultural content
- What can I copy without the copyright owner’s permission?
- How do I find copyright owners?
- Adhering to moral rights
- Acknowledging use of Library material