Librarian Web Permissions SOP

Like other content on a website, videos are covered by the TOU unless there is a copyright notice that states otherwise. Copyright ownership may not be immediately apparent. You may need to use your professional judgment when evaluating videos. Here are some things to consider:

• Look at the description/summary for any references to a title, producers, etc., indicating the content may have been reposted from another site. Perform a web search for those names to check if the copyright owner might be found on another site.
• Scroll through the video to see if there are any copyright notices or trademarks from another source.
• Review the quality of the video. For example, if the poster is an individual with no professional affiliation listed and the video appears to be professionally produced, this is an indicator that they may have reposted the video.
• While there may not be an affiliated website, look for an email address or other contact information.
• Check YouTube for other videos affiliated with this poster (usually linked on a tab with the current video) and evaluate additional content for originality or ownership.

Next steps:

• If there is a strong indication that the video poster is not the copyright holder and/or there is no way to contact the poster, this needs to be conveyed to the requester.
• Add the following (adjusted as needed) to the comments section:
  • Hi @requester, this content is not allowed. We found the following concerns [list them here] and cannot confirm the video poster is the copyright holder. If you would like us to research possible resources to replace this site, please submit an LRR request with the details of what you need.

Permission to use videos on YouTube must be granted by the copyright holder (the person or organization who created the video), not YouTube. 

In some cases, the copyright holder will put Creative Commons licenses or usage permission on the video's YouTube page. In other cases, the copyright license or usage will be posted at the beginning or end of the video. According to the YouTube terms of use, all Creative Commons licenses on its site are CC BY and are allowable under the UOPX permission guidelines.

Since the copyright on YouTube videos is retained by its owner, it is usually necessary to check the owner's website for usage restrictions if they are not provided on the owner's YouTube page.

Copyright Owner Information from YouTube

If you do not see a license or restrictions on the video page, click on the icon of the video poster and open the About page to see if any restrictions are posted there. This is also where any links to the poster's website may be listed.

Please note that the poster must be the copyright holder for any use terms to apply. If the poster has taken the video from another source (i.e., a recording of a news segment from a different news outlet), the video cannot be used.

Some videos posted to a specific site will not have the transcript included. We have found this to be the case with many government site videos. However, some will offer a YouTube version.

• Check the YouTube version for CC/Transcript.

Next steps:

• If the webpage (not YouTube) is missing either closed captioning or transcript, but it is available on the website’s YouTube channel with both cc and transcript, approve the page with Allowed with Conditions and notify the requester that, if the intent is to use the video, they must use the YouTube version or place a link to the YouTube video for accessibility.