Copyright enforcement companies use web crawling and scraping programs to analyze sites all over the internet for images and pictures that match images and pictures that their clients have copyright claim to. If your library’s website or Facebook page has images that you are not permitted to use under the licensing agreement established by the artist, you could receive an email from a copyright enforcement company demanding payment for infringement of their client’s copyrights. An unintentional violation of the copyright law, if your web designer or staff put the image up without your knowledge, is still a violation. In some cases, the payments can be negotiated, but the cost to the library would still be hundreds of dollars or more per violation. To avoid this, ensure you have the necessary rights to use any images on your library’s social media or web pages.
Here are some sources for free images you can use on your website, social media and other publicity efforts:
