Creative Commons Licenses and Public Domain Tools

Creative Commons Licenses and Public Domain Tools

Welcome! This guide is a work in progress. In this guide, you will find an introduction to Creative Commons licenses and public domain tools, including:

• a table summarizing the six Creative Commons licenses;
• more information about the anatomy of the licenses:
  • the three layers of the CC licenses,
  • the four license elements that make up the six separate licenses,
  • exceptions and limitations to copyright affect CC licensed works; and
• a table summarizing two public domain tools offered by Creative Commons and how they are different from CC licenses.

Creative Commons is an international nonprofit organization that empowers people to grow and sustain the thriving commons of shared knowledge and culture we need to address the world's most pressing challenges and create a brighter future for all.

- creativecommons.org 

Note: More information about Creative Commons for the SRSU community will be shared on this guide in the coming weeks. In the meantime, check out creativecommons.org to learn more and get involved.

This guide is an adaptation of the Creative Commons Certificate published as of January 2025 (accessed July 2025) (the “Original Work”), licensed by Creative Commons under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This adaptation is made and published by Betsy Helesic, SRSU Library and Archives (the “Adapter”) under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The Adapter modified the Original Work in the following respects: adapted the course materials to a LibGuide format (“the Adapted Work”). Using the Original Work or the Adapted Work does not mean the individual doing so has earned a CC Certificate, nor may any organization or individual offer a “CC Certificate.” Note that the trademarks of Creative Commons and the Adapter are the property of their owners and require permission to reuse. Anyone who wants to take the CC Certificate is welcome to register here: https://certificates.creativecommons.org.