Can I freely use anything on the Internet without permission?
No. A common misunderstanding is that everything on the Internet is free for everybody to use. Works on the Internet may be protected by copyright. So you still have to examine it closely to determine if it's covered by a copyright, a Creative Commons License, or in the public domain and then determine whether your use would be appropriate.
Can I distribute a copyrighted journal article for journal club without permission?
A lot of that will depend on how you obtained the article in the first place. For instance, if you got the article from another library (our library did not have it in our collection and we got it from another library), the permission to use that article was only granted to you, the original requester. You have been granted no right to distribute that article to others. If the article is part of the library's electronic journal collection, then all of our authorized users can access it. We recommend that rather than copying and posting the article (and risk accidentally distributing to non-authorized users) that you merely provide a link to it to your journal club members. That way, you are avoiding any risks of copying and distributing that you may not be entitled to do. See our guide on creating persistent links for help.
Can I use copyrighted material found in library materials in my presentations (for instance, copying images)?
Electronic products that the library licenses for use by our authorized users are usually covered by a license. Terms of use are often found right on the producer's site. Generally, uses for educational or research purposes are allowed. If you aren't sure if your use is allowable by the license, you could always consider the fair use principles and make a decision after you've weighed the fair use factors. In all cases, be sure to give attribution to the copyright holder and cite where you got the material.
Can I redistribute an article that I authored and published in a non-open access scholarly journal?
That depends on the terms of the agreement when you published the article. Some journals require you to turn over your copyright to the publisher and you are no longer the copyright holder. But some publishers just control the publication rights and still allow the author to retain some rights like sharing your article with friends and colleagues and distribute copies of your article when you present at a conference. Be sure to check what your transfer agreement with the publisher says.