How to Copy Maps
Copyright Information
You must abide by "fair use" guidelines as outlined in U.S. copyright law, Section 107:
"...the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:
- the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
- the nature of the copyrighted work;
- the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
"The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."
Most materials in the Map Collection are copyrighted. However, United States Federal Government materials (such as materials from the USGS, CIA, NIMA, and NOAA, among others) are in the public domain, so no copyright fees or permissions are required.
Please note that some copy service providers may require proof of permission from the copyright holder. The Map Collection cannot give this permission. You must contact the copyright holder directly.
Self-Service Copy Options
If you would like to make a copy of a UW Map Collection item the Map Collection has the following equipment available for your use:
- A black and white photocopy machine, which accepts Husky cards(UW student/staff id/debit card) and Dawg Print cards(for off-campus users). It has the following paper sizes:
- 8½" x 11" (letter)
- 11" x 17"
- Two 11" x 17" flatbed scanners. You must provide your own storage media (e.g. thumb drive or CD-ROM).
You may also take photographs of any item with your own camera.
Printing:
You may make a 8½"x11" or 11 x 17 color prints in the Libraries, but we do not have a large-format printer available. If you need to make bigger printouts, you can either make a screenshot of what you want to print and take it to an off-campus print shop (such as Kinko's), or you can email uwlib-gis@uw.edu for assistance in printing to UW Posters in Health Sciences (this costs $0.50-1.00 per inch for large-format plots).
Map Collection staff copy services
For a fee, Map Collection staff can order you scans of materials that cannot be checked out.
Please call Map Collection staff at (206) 543-4164 or email us at maplib@uw.edu for more information.