The NBII Digital Image Library

Copyright Issues in a Mixed Public/Private System

http://images.nbii.gov

October 2006

Dr. Annette Olson

Email: alolson@usgs.gov

703-648-4080

NBIIThe National Biological Information Infrastructure

www.nbii.gov

What is the NBII Digital Image Library?

•A Web resource available to scientists, educators, decision makers and the public worldwide.

•Openly available images contributed by the NBII and partners.

•Images associated with plant and animal species, habitats, wildlife management, environmental issues, and biological study/fieldwork.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula) © Charles H. Warren

Our MissionThe mission of our digital image library is to provide a gateway to biological images – offering a rich, Web-based resource of credible, well-documented images accessible to users worldwide.

We meet our mission by: – storing and serving images directly, – providing a gateway to other image galleries, and – recommending and implementing standards to enable image

sharing and promote quality.

Well-documented images being used for:– species, habitat, or other identification in the field,– research,– education, and – illustration of subjects in reports, presentations, posters, and

papers.

… information and links to other resolutions appear on a new page.

Each image is dynamically linked to metadata – specific information about the image. The metadata record contains validated information, such as scientific and common names, a description, and geographic location, as well as photographer and contributing partner names.

Contributors are responsible for providing images with the appropriate validated metadata.

So Who Contributes?

Members of NBII, contractors for USGS, individual photographers, and partner organizations

And Why?

• Increased exposure of contributed images

• Repository for contributors to transfer, organize, and then easily access images

• Security in long-term storage, and

• Contributors retain rights and permissions, if desired.

Levels of Copyright…

• Public domain

• Copyright by creator

• Copyright by source (an organization who has hired a photographer, who gives permission)

no fees except for commercial use

Rights qualification statement

– Who gets to use

– Whether permission is needed (for high resolutions)

– Special, such as ‘Creative Commons’ statements…

Amerafrican House Gecko (Hemidactylus mabouia) - whole body dorsal view. Creator: Yuri Huta

Copyright Issues for Images

• Images travel!

– Free access is different from free reuse

– Downloaded from websites without metadata attached (working to change in ours)

– Can be selected from PDFs

– Presentations – often small images don’t have copyright info, and slides can be copied

• Image content can be altered

Solutions ….and Their Problems

1. Metadata – vital, but easily lost from image.

2. Watermarks – not lost, hard to alter

– Limited in information

– Changing information

– Watermarks can potentially cover information useful for later research

Guimbeau's Day Gecko (Phelsuma guimbeaui) - head close-up side view

Giant Anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla)

Solutions ….and Their Problems

3. Information embedded with the file information.

– Can be accidentally stripped if image is resaved.

4. GUIDs, DOIs, LSIDs – Globally Unique Identifiers, Digital Object Identifiers

– Don’t give the information immediately (can look up)

– Tracking both the data (image) and the metadata

Government Specific issues• What happens to a private image, or stock image, used in a

government publication that is marked as public domain? Especially if something is marked post-publication?

• Who manages the mark/tag? Done by agency? e.g., USGS?

• Will people understand what a watermark means? Global users.

• Will any limitations be put on the use of the image?

• Images for sale or at cost, used for fundraising.

• In a government watermark – will credit be noted?

• How/will the copyright cover any metadata about an image?

• Implementation of the watermark or tagging with limited staff and time.

• What is the governments’ responsibility in terms of copyright protection?

NBII Digital Image LibraryQuestions regarding the NBII Digital Image Library can be directed to:

Project Coordinators:

Gene Morris

Email: images@nbii.gov

703-648-4351

Annette Olson

Email: alolson@usgs.gov

703-648-4080

http://images.nbii.gov