dear colleagues,

i have a patron who is working on a project that requires copyright permissions for the use about 500 different illustrations and images. his publisher asked him to seek these permissions through a (many?) design archive.

i am not really sure how to frame my question, or in fact what my question is: neither i nor my patron know what a design archive is, how they work, or what the process is for figuring out which archive has the power to grant permission for a given illustration of an object. my patron's publisher suggested using the RIT design archive, which i found on the net, but didn't know how to proceed once i got there.

can anyone suggest where i can start my hunt? if there is a central place for permissions like the copyright clearance center? what the purpose of a design archive is?

any nugget of information would so helpful.

thanks so much,

kelley

___________________________

Kelley Weaver
Media Arts + Design Librarian
W.W. Hagerty Library
Drexel University
33rd and Market Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215-895-2768
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"Mandelbrot illustrates this property of 'self-similarity' by breaking
a piece out of a cauliflower and pointing out that, by itself, the piece
looks just like a small cauliflower" --from The Web of Life by Fritjof Capra