Licensed Electronic Resources: What You Can and Can't Do
Contractual license agreements and U.S. Copyright Law govern the access, use, and reproduction of these resources. In addition, use of electronic resources must be in compliance with the campus-wide policy on Acceptable Use of Information Technology Resources and related standards. Users of library-licensed resources must comply with the terms of agreements and be aware that publishers may monitor use of electronic resources to ensure that the terms of their licensing agreements are enforced. Breach of license may lead a publisher/vendor to turn off the University's access without warning.
In using licensed e-resources, users must:- limit uses to non-commercial, educational, or personal research purposes;
- not facilitate unauthorized access by others (i.e., do not share one's U of M Internet account password)
Here are some safe rules of thumb:
| You can | You cannot |
| Print / download / quote limited amounts of information (with proper attribution) | Engage in systematic downloading of licensed content (e.g. download all articles in an e-journal issue or all chapters in an e-book; download substantial amounts from a database to create another collection of data) |
| Email an article to another current University faculty, student, or staff (unless this practice is specifically forbidden by a publisher's license) | Email an article to a person who is not a current University faculty, student, or staff (unless this practice is specifically allowed by a publisher's license) |
| Create a link to a journal article on a publisher web site (the Libraries' Find It Linking Service may be used for this purpose) | Post a copy of an article to a University server (e.g. WebCT, departmental web site) |
Your assistance in assuring the University's continued access to these valuable research resources is appreciated.
For more information, please consult the University Libraries' policy document Acceptable Use of Electronic Resources. If you have questions, please contact us by web form or e-mail at copyinfo@umn.edu.