Visual Resources Association Endorses Librarians' Fair Use Code

The community that benefits from librarians' better understanding of their fair use rights is growing.

The Visual Resources Association (VRA) Executive Board has just announced its endorsement of the Association of Research Libraries’ Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Academic and Research Libraries, which was prepared in conjunction with the Center for Social Media and the Washington College of Law at American University, and supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The librarians' code was the latest in a series of codes created through the Center's Fair Use and Free Speech project, the first of which was the Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use. 

"The VRA, a multi-disciplinary organization dedicated to furthering research and education in the field of image management within the educational, cultural heritage and commercial environments, finds the ARL document to be consistent with, and complementary to, the VRA Statement on the Fair Use of Images for Teaching, Research and Study, articulating in a clear and easy-to-use document a series of reasonable, equitable approaches to fair use both within, and beyond, the academic library," the organization announced. The VRA's statement drew on the methods created by the Fair Use and Free Speech Project.

The VRA follows a series of academic organizations that have endorsed the code since its release in January. They include the American Library Association, The Arts Libraries Society of North America, The Association of College and Research Libraries, The College Art Association, and the Music Library Association. 

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