Copyright Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in publishing items from the J. Willard Marriott LIbrary Special Collections. We encourage reuse of the rare and unique materials housed within the division. 

If you are interested in publishing materials from Special Collections, we ask that you sign a Use Agreement (PDF) or sign the Use Agreement electronically. Please note (as indicated in Section 2A of the Use Agreement) that "It is the responsibility of the applicant to obtain permission from the owner of the copyright (the institution, creator, author, or his/her transferees, heirs, legatees, or literary executors)." The Use Fee that Special Collections charges is waived for University of Utah community members and nonprofit or educational institutions. The fee is assessed in order to support the maintenance and preservation of the collections in both physical and digital formats; it is not a permission to publish fee. 

It is rare for the library to be the rightsholder of the primary source materials that we steward. Special Collections staff does not conduct research to determine copyright holders, nor do we provide donor contact information. If you are looking for information on donors, sources such as obituaries, social media, and varieties of web searches (eg. try including nicknames, city of residence, spouse name, etc.) can be helpful. Special Collections does not license or provide permission to publish for any items in the collection. We do not provide legal advice regarding the reuse of our materials nor can we sign any other institution's forms regarding use or copyright. If you would like legal advice, please consult the legal counsel associated with your organization or publisher.