The Charleston Library Society encourages the use of all items in its Digital Library for fair use purposes such as teaching, research, and private study. For materials in which the Library Society is identified as the owner of copyright, permission to use those materials for purposes other than personal research, teaching and scholarly work may be granted by an appropriate staff member. Permission is not necessary for fair uses; the Library Society requests, however, that fair uses include an appropriate notice of copyright and attribution. Works of the government of the United States and, in general, works created before 1923 are in the public domain and permission is not required to make use of these works.
For materials that are not in the public domain and in which the Library Society does not hold copyright, it is the responsibility of the patron to determine whether a particular use requires permission. The Library Society may not make such determinations for the patron. Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright law specifically authorizes the use of works protected by copyright without permission for "purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching ..., scholarship or research."
Uses of materials that fall outside the scope of fair use may require the prior permission of the copyright owner who may also require payment of a fee or royalty. It is solely the patron's obligation to determine and ensure that the use of material fully complies with copyright law and other possible restrictions on use. The Charleston Library Society will furnish what information it has, if any, regarding the owner of copyright and restrictions on the use of particular materials.