One way to avoid entirely the conundrum of using copyrighted content—and making Fair Use determinations, requesting permissions, paying for use, etc.—is to make as much use as possible of open content. That mean using readings, images, video and other content where the copyright owner has made the content openly available. This is usually accomplished with a Creative Commons license, or by depositing the content into a repository of open teaching resources or some other mechanism for openly sharing resources.
This section will identify tips and techniques for identifying open content.
NOTE: licensed library content—for example the articles in Academic Search Premier or JStor or streaming video from Alexander Street Press—is freely available to Temple University faculty and students because we pay for subscriptions to the content. However, while it may seem to be freely open, it is not available to the general public. This is good for us, but note the distinction between licensed content (we are paying for usage) and openly accessible content (the creator makes the content openly accessible via a Creative Commons license).
You can also use Google to search for images to use on slides, handouts, webpages, or in other projects. When using Google to search for images, the search tools provide a filter to limit results to those with noncommercial licensing. Use the "Usage Rights" search filter.
Here is a screenshot from Google Image Search:
FLICKR is another potential sources of openly accessible images. As a widely popular source there are thousands and thousands of images to be found there. When accessing FLICKR there is a "license" filter where you can specify images that are Creative Commons licensed. Limit your search to those images that are already available for public use. As with all Creative Commons licensed works, if attribution is requested by the owner, be sure to provide it.
Here is an example of the search screen in FLICKR:
