Editing Encyclopedia:Public domain resources (section)

==US federal government==
Title 17 USC §105, Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works, provides that "Copyright protection is not available for any work of the United States Government," defined in Title 17 USC §101, as "a work prepared by an officer or employee of the United States Government as part of that person's official duties." Therefore, only those works solely authored by US Federal Government employees are not protected by copyright in the United States.  

Works produced by contractors and grantees for the federal government are generally protected by copyright. In such cases, the Government is granted a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free license in the work to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform publicly and display publicly, and to allow others to do so, for US Government purposes. The Government's license does not place these works in the public domain. Additionally, a copyrighted work for which the copyright has been transferred to the Government by assignment or bequest is not in the public domain. 

Look for copyright and permissions notices on US Federal Government publications and websites. However be cautioned that government agencies often advise that in the absence of a copyright notice, users may assume their information is not copyrighted. This contradicts the copyright law as amended in 1989, when the United States joined the Berne Convention for the purpose of harmonizing domestic copyright law with international copyright standards. While use of a copyright notice and registration was once required as a condition of copyright protection in the United States, it is now optional, and a work is not necessarily in the public domain simply because it does not have a copyright notice. 

For further discussion, see: [http://www.cendi.gov/publications/04-4website_policy.html ''Don't keep the public guessing: best practices in notice of copyright and term & conditions of use for government web site content''] (2004) by the CENDI Copyright & Intellectual Property Working Group.

{{seealso|Wikipedia:WikiProject Maps}}
[[Copyright status of works by the federal government of the United States|Works of the United States federal government]]:
**[http://www.census.gov United States Census Bureau] – [[United States Bureau of the Census]] has an enormous range of facts and figures of [[United States Census|Census]] data, often useful when fleshing out articles about cities and states
***[https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/international-programs/about/idb.html International Data Base] (IDB) – The Census Bureau's collection of international/world data.
**[https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ CIA World Factbook] – [[The World Factbook]] from the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] contains basic facts on all the countries of the world; however, the most recent data for some statistics may be up to several decades out of date.
**[http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/ Background Notes] from the [[United States Department of State]] include "facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations of [[Sovereign state|independent states]], some [[Dependent territory|dependencies]], and areas of special sovereignty." [http://www.state.gov/misc/87529.htm#copyright State.gov copyright statement]: "Unless a copyright is indicated, information on State Department websites is in the public domain and may be copied and distributed without permission. Citation of the U.S. State Department as source of the information is appreciated."
**[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html Library of Congress Country Studies] – Web version of the [[Library of Congress Country Studies]], a series of works published from 1988 to 1998 by the [[Library of Congress]]'s [[Federal Research Division]]. The Country Studies/Area Handbook Program was sponsored by the [[United States Department of the Army|Department of the Army]] and at present includes 101 countries and regions. The [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/about.html copyright statement]: "Information contained in the online Country Studies is not copyrighted and thus is available for free and unrestricted use by researchers. As a courtesy, however, appropriate credit should be given to the series."
**[http://www.evl.uic.edu/pape/data/WDB/ CIA World DataBank II] – global outline map data (coastlines, rivers, national boundaries) in vector format, hosted by Dave Pape at the UIC Electronic Visualization Laboratory (but note that this dates back to 1972, so many national boundaries are out of date) Now (mostly?, entirely?) obsoleted by VMAP0, see below.
**[http://earth-info.nga.mil/publications/vmap0.html VMAP0], a vector map of the world, an updated version of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency's (NIMA) Digital Chart of the World. See also the article [[VMAP0]]. ''[Note: the original NIMA data package distributes the public domain dataset with a small amount of copyrighted  information provided as overlays: these should be filtered out if you are going to use this as a public domain resource]''
**[http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/global/global.html ETOPO2] – a whole-planet [[digital elevation model]] dataset with sample points a 2 arc minute intervals
**[http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/gtopo30/gtopo30.asp GTOPO30] – a whole-planet [[digital elevation model]] dataset with sample points at 30 arc second intervals – the data files can be found at https://web.archive.org/web/20111017031724/http://edcftp.cr.usgs.gov/pub/data/gtopo30/global/ 
**[http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/viewrecord?11612 Blue Marble], a set of high-resolution cylindrical-projection raster images of the Earth derived from satellite data
**[http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/ GEOnet Names Server] – [[GEOnet Names Server]] (GNS) provides access to the [[National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency]] (NGA) and [[United States Board on Geographic Names]] (BGN) database of geographic feature names and locations for locations outside the United States. The database is the official repository of foreign place-name decisions approved by the BGN.
**[http://www2.demis.nl/mapserver/mapper.asp DEMIS World Map Server] generates maps using public domain data with no usage restrictions
**[http://nationalmap.gov/viewers.html The National Map] – [[The National Map]] (TNP), managed by the [[United States Geological Survey]]'s National Geospatial Program (NGP).
**[[United States Geological Survey]] [[Geographic Names Information System]] claims to have almost 2 million physical and cultural geographic features within the United States
* [http://www.archives.gov/ National Archives and Records Administration] – The official archive site of the [[federal government of the United States]]. This is a [[Copyright status of works by the federal government of the United States|work of the US government]].
**[http://www.archives.gov/research/military/veterans/online.html Online Veterans and Military Documents] from NARA – deals with [[military history of the United States]]
**[http://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries/visit/ List] of [[Presidential library|presidential libraries]] and links to their websites. Each president since [[Herbert Hoover]] has a library, which is a depository for records and documents (much of it public-domain material) relating to each president and his presidency. Each is affiliated with NARA.
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/ ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress''] – The ''[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]'' includes biographical information every individual who ever served in the [[Continental Congress]] or [[United States Congress]]. This is a [[Copyright status of works by the federal government of the United States|work of the US government]]. The proper template is [[Template:Bioguide]].
*[https://www.bls.gov/ooh/ Occupational Outlook Handbook] – The ''[[Occupational Outlook Handbook]]'', published by the [[United States Department of Labor|United States Department of Labor's]] [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]], contains descriptions of a great many occupations

*[[Uniformed services of the United States|Uniformed services]]
**[http://www.defense.gov/multimedia/multimedia.aspx Multimedia] from the [[United States Department of Defense]], including thousands of news photos, photo essays, video clips, and other multimedia
**[http://www.army.mil/media/ Army Media] – [[United States Army]] images, audio, video and written content 
**[https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Photo-Gallery/ Photo collection] from the [[United States Navy]]
**[https://www.navy.mil/Resources/Videos/ Video collection] from the [[United States Navy]]
**[http://www.af.mil/art/index.asp AFLink Art Archive] from the [[United States Air Force]], including a searchable database of items such as Air Force posters, emblems and shields, historical records, cartoons and weapons]
**[http://www.af.mil/photos/index.asp Photos] from the [[United States Air Force]]
**[http://www.marines.mil/news/Pages/photos.aspx?sortExpr=PhotoDateTaken&sortDir=DESC&pageIndex=0&FirstRow=0 Searchable photo bank] from the [[United States Marine Corps]]
**[http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php Visual Information Gallery] from the [[United States Coast Guard]], including photos, graphics, video, audio, art, and leadership portraits
*[http://www.photolibrary.fema.gov/photolibrary/index.jsp FEMA Photo Library] from the [[Federal Emergency Management Agency]] (FEMA)
*[http://www.fema.gov/medialibrary/media_records/3486 FEMA Multimedia] including video and audio 
*[http://www.epa.gov/newsroom/ EPA Newsroom records] – Includes documents and multimedia 
*[http://www.voanews.com/ Voice of America] – All text, audio and video material produced exclusively by the Voice of America is public domain. However, some images and graphics are licensed for use and covered by all applicable copyright laws.
*[http://www.ntsb.gov/speeches/speeches.htm Speeches and testimony] of [[National Transportation Safety Board]] board members and staff
*[http://www.usace.army.mil/publications/ Publications of the Headquarters, United States Army Corps of Engineers] – Included are [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]] records such as engineering manuals, pamphlets, design guides, and standards.
*[http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/hydraulics_lab/pubs/index.cfm Publications Index] of the [[United States Bureau of Reclamation|Bureau of Reclamation]], including Hydraulic Laboratory Reports, research reports, and engineering manuals and monographs
* [http://search.usa.gov/search/images Image search] on [http://search.usa.gov/ search.usa.gov] 
* [http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/ Federal Information Processing Standards home page]
* [http://dodssp.daps.mil/ Department of Defense Single Stock Point for Military Specifications, Standards and Related Publications] (DODSSP) – see also [[United States Military Standard]]
* [http://srdata.nist.gov/gateway/ NIST Data Gateway] – Access to [[National Institute of Standards and Technology]] (NIST) scientific and technical data. 
* [http://catalog.gpo.gov Catalog of US Government Publications] – From the [[US Government Printing Office]]
* [http://video.fws.gov/sound.htm Sound] from the [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service]]; [http://www.fws.gov/video/sound.htm copyright statement]: "The following sound clips are public domain and may be used without prior permission. If possible, please credit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."