Since copyright is a bundle of rights, licensing allows authors to share some of those rights with others depending on what they would like to share and what others would like to do. While authors generally want to keep their rights, they also want their work to be used and they want to profit from their work. Licenses allow others to use the work in ways specified by the license, either freely or for a fee, while maintaining the rest of their rights. 

Creative Commons licenses are legal tools that let people who have copyright pre-approve certain uses of their works. They can be helpful for creators who want their works widely used, and they can be helpful for people who want to find things that are free to use with clear permissions. 

Creative Commons licenses are intended to create a sharing culture where others explicitly know how they can build upon your work. Processing permission requests can take time for a copyright holder. If there are many users to whom you'd always say "Yes," a Creative Commons license may save you, and the people who use your work, a great deal of time. Creative Commons licenses don’t replace copyright. In fact, they rely on it – only a copyright owner can make a work available under a Creative Commons license. 

Selecting a Creative Commons License for Your Work

If you want to give people more rights to your work, you can apply a Creative Commons license to your work while still holding copyright. Each license is made up of a few main pieces, called "elements." Creators can choose the combination of elements that make the most sense for them. The elements you can select from include:

• BY - attribution required
• NC - no commercial use allowed
• ND - no derivative works allowed
• SA - Share Alike - the license must be the same on any derivative works
• 0 - essentially public domain, and this element appears alone (e.g., CC0)

Creative Commons provides a tool for selecting the right elements based on your goals. The more elements you add to your work, the more restrictive the license is (i.e. the less permissions others have).

Once you apply a Creative Commons license to your work, the license will remain on that version. If you create a new version, it’s important to note that the original version containing the license may still be available. 

Using Creative Commons Works to Use in Your Work

If you find a resource that has a Creative Commons license, follow the elements of the license and best practices for attribution to cite the source you used. 

Look for a symbol like this one. The elements included signify what rights the creator is giving you to their work.