Q. What is Creative Commons?

From the Creative Commons page on our Open Access Library guide: 

Creative Commons is a non-profit organization that promotes the sharing of knowledge and resources. The organization offers free licensing tools for works in an effort to increase the sharing and re-using of materials with a "some rights reserved" approach to licensing. Through their affiliate organizations, Creative Commons works to promote their mission of sharing allowing further distribution and sharing of materials, while creators are still able to maintain copyright of their work.

Creative Commons copyright licenses and tools strike a balance within the traditional “all rights reserved” landscape that copyright law often creates. These tools provide everyone from individuals, institutions, or even large companies with a legal and easy to use way to grant copyright permissions to their creative works.

Check out the guide linked above for more information.