Open Access and Copyright

Collections

A collection is an aggregation or grouping of individual works that have been assembled together without altering their content. In a collection, each work remains intact and continues to be governed by its original CC license. The act of compiling the works into one package (like a book, website, or exhibition) does not create a new, modified work.

Licensing Considerations:

• Preservation of original licenses
  • Individual Work Licensing: In a collection, each work retains its original CC license. When you compile these works, you must not override or alter the terms of their individual licenses.
  • Attribution Requirements: You must continue to provide proper attribution as specified by each work’s license. This means including the original author’s name, the title of the work (if provided), the source, and the specific CC license details.

• License Compatibility:

  • Mixing Different Licenses: Collections can include works under different CC licenses, but you need to be aware of how these licenses interact. For instance, if one work is under a CC BY-NC (NonCommercial) license and another is under CC BY, the noncommercial restriction will apply to the use of the collection as a whole if it’s distributed together.
  • No Derivatives vs. Collections: Even if a work is licensed under a “No Derivatives” (ND) clause, it can still be included in a collection because the work itself isn’t being modified. However, you must not alter the work in any way.

• Additional Content and Overall Collection Licensing:

  • New Arrangements: While the underlying works keep their original licenses, you might add your own content such as commentary, curation notes, or an introduction to the collection. This additional content can be licensed separately (or under your chosen terms), but it must be clearly distinguished from the CC-licensed content.
  • Collection vs. Derivative Work: Since a collection is simply an aggregation without altering the content of the included works, it is not considered a derivative work. This distinction means that the “ShareAlike” or other derivative-specific clauses of some CC licenses don’t automatically impose on the collection as a whole—only on the individual works.

 The gallery above is an example of a slide-show collection of CC-licensed  and public domain images. Each image retains its own individual CC license (or public domain attribution) while the collection as a whole contains a different license. As the creator of this collection, I am only licensing the compilation, not the individual images. 

"Stamp Collection" by Lori Looney. CC BY 4.0