Education

Aha! That's it. Sorry, I didn't see it anywhere. Thanks!

But, what I was refering to also were specific diagrams for each group of critters. Each group could be sort of what you have at the left "clickable guide". In other words, you could have a diagram for beetles, one for flies, butterflies, walking sticks, bees, wasps, grasshoppers, etc. And each diagram could show general parts of each major group because the mouthparts for a beetle are different or are in a different location than it is for a bee and so on. It wouldn't need to be extremely detailed, just the basics.

that it would be great if such images were available at BugGuide. You are not the first to suggest the value of such images, and we would certainly agree with your suggestion. But, it's not as though there are a group of BugGuide employees here who can be set to work on a project. This will simply be another of those good ideas, on hold, until someone is moved to work on it, perhaps even you! You can maybe search through used book stores, find books with expired copyrights, find images such as you think are appropriate, scan and post them such as these, or whatever you think might be useful. There is no "you" here at bugguide, just "we"!!

Ok. I have my old ento book from college from 25 or so years ago. It is "An Introduction To The Study Of Insects" fourth edition by Dwight J. Borror, Dwight M. DeLong, and Charles A Triplehorn. It was copyrighted 1954, 1964, 1971, and 1976. Surely by now the copyrights have expired. Is there a way to confirm ?

That book is the standard for North American Entomology.... the 7th edition came out a couple years ago, so I wouldn't scan from that...

I tried to bring this topic up a while ago ... if our resident experts added a handful of diagrammatic images like this to the info page on the higher level taxa it would go a long way towards helping the amateurs learn the jargon... the difficulty is in organizing such things.

Yes, I agree, that would be awesome if that could be done and that's pretty much what I had in mind initially....or diagrams.

is a very complex topic. Current international standards, to which the US now adheres, are generally the life of the author plus 70 years. Borror and DeLong have a ways to go yet before the copyright expires.

The older United States laws mean that works published before 1923 have expired copyright, and can be used freely in the United States. (International laws are different.) Continuous publication of new editions does not protect the older ones--if a work was published before 1923, that edition enters the public domain (US) despite later editions being published.

See this US government publication, Duration of Copyright.

What about internet stuff that would be, say, on an educational site ?

Copyright exists automatically upon creation of an intellectual work, whether in print, or on the Internet. No notice is required, though it is often stated. (US law used to require notice in print, but no longer does.) If there is no indication of public domain status, or a creative commons or other "free" license, a work is by default, considered to be copyrighted--it does not matter whether a site or work is educational, non-profit, etc.

Wikipedia has a good article here, to quote:
"Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape or a letter), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights."

Well crap!
Ok, what if I draw the images, even if I replicate (not trace) a textbook, or can I trace them ?

Or, do something like Joe suggested with pics and use the textbook to locate the different parts ?

Well, making something "too identical" verges on copyright violation, but it is a gray area. Tracing, I think, would be a no-no, if done in any meaningful detail. Freehand replication "after" might be more questionable. I can give no further advice--copyright violation is kind of a "you know it when you see it" thing.

I've found some old entomology books, and will have some more images soon. One thing to consider is to trace over somebody's photograph here on BugGuide (with their permission)--then you have an accurate, artistic work. You are welcome to use any of my photos for such a purpose--perhaps you can provide a thumbnail of the original in the caption.

Well I guess my original statement that "this should be fairly easy to do" is out the window. This is crazy.
But, I'll see what I can come up with because I think the effort would be worth it.

Well ok but I don't know that I've been on here long enough to be part of "we". I see myself as part of the general public. You guys are the "core" of BugGuide, even if you are not "employees", and someone like me is just a member. I appreciate the philosophy though.