Staff across NHS Lanarkshire are being reminded to ensure they have permission to use all copyrighted images. The use of images and videos are not covered by the organisation’s copyright licence.

Amanda Minns, head of evidence, said: “NHS Lanarkshire’s copyright licence does not cover images. When using any image, you need to ensure that you have the permission to do so.

“The general rule is that you should always seek permission to re-use anything where you are unsure who owns it.

“The good news is that there are resources available where you can source images.”

The NHS Scotland photo library gives free access to images of staff and patients in a clinical setting. This library can be accessed at www.nhsscotlandphotolibrary.org.

There are websites which charge you to use their images. The cost will vary depending on the size and complexity of the image that you are downloading. Examples of these sites are getty images, shutterstock, fotosearch and istockphoto.

Remember when using these sites, ‘royalty free’ doesn’t mean payment free –sometimes there is a charge to use the image even if copyright is waived. It is a good idea to look out for Creative Commons usually displayed as CC– this is an internationally recognised licence that gives permission for millions of online resources www.creativecommons.org with no costs attached.

There are also non-commercial sources of images which you can access including pixabay,free.images.com and creative commons.

For further information, you can read the handy guide ‘sourcing images and other media’ on the knowledge services page on FirstPort.

Knowledge Services run a permission service that seeks permissions from authors/publishers and rights holders.

To use this service, email libraries@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk.