Date Approved: April 3, 2024
Effective Date: April 3, 2024
Responsible Position: Vice Provost and Lindseth Family University Librarian
Responsible Office/Department/Team: Technical Services
Revision History: Version 1.0 Related Legislation and University Policies:
- II-1a Identity Management for Temporary and Non-CWRU Employees
- I-1 Acceptable Use of Information Technology Policy (AUP)
- II-2 Network ID and Account Expiration Policy
Review Period: 2 years
Date of Last Review: April 3, 202
Relates to: Faculty, staff, students, alumni, affiliate account holders, community in-person visitors to the libraries
Policy Statement
Kelvin Smith Library acquires and provides access to online resources for the faculty, staff, and students of Case Western Reserve University for research, teaching, and learning. Access is also made possible for sponsored affiliate account holders; alumni have access to limited resources negotiated specifically for their use; and e-resource licenses generally allow for on-site guests and visitors to the libraries. To manage and facilitate access to these e-resources the CWRU libraries negotiate and acquire access which is governed by the contractual license agreement with the vendors and U.S. Copyright Law. This use varies based on roles identified and managed by University Technology through account management, and authentication systems utilized by the university.
Purpose of this Policy
The purpose of this policy is to define how the Kelvin Smith Library responsibly supports the range of user privileges and to outline the requirements for the use of these resources for those authorized for access.
Definitions
Kelvin Smith Library (“KSL”): Primary interdisciplinary library at CWRU
Affiliate Role: A role for a user that is not formally affiliated as a member of the university community, but they are linked to the university in some way and has a CWRUsponsor; examples: contractors, temps, volunteers, parents, external auditors, users from other universities, and visiting committee members.
Affiliate Account Holder: A person not actively affiliated with the university but received a CWRU Network ID for collaboration purposes when sponsored for an approved affiliate account through an active CWRU faculty or staff member.
Sponsor: a full-time employee at CWRU who can request the assignment of an affiliate role to temporary and non-CWRU employee users.
Approver: a university vice president or dean, who is also a full-time university employee, or their designee, who is authorized by policy to approve assignment of an affiliate role for temporary and non-CWRU employee users.
Electronic Resources: Online resources, known as e-resources, may include databases, books, journals, newspapers, images, primary sources, movies, data, market studies, audio, tools/software, etc. e-resources may be leased, purchased, or free, but typically are operated with the requirements of a license agreement and/or other terms and conditions.
User: Authorized and authenticated person accessing online content. Often defined by vendors within these categories: faculty, staff, student, employee, contractor, walk-in guest, or alumni. A person may fall into more than one category.
The Policy
The Kelvin Smith Library provides electronic resources (i.e. e-resources) for the non-commercial educational, scholarly, teaching, and research use of the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) community. Licensed online e-resources may include databases, books, journals, newspapers, images, primary sources, movies, data, market studies, audio, tools/software, and other online formats.
Under the negotiated terms of e-resource license agreements, access to electronic resources is typically limited to current CWRU faculty, staff, and students. To support collaboration, individuals not identified as CWRU faculty, staff, or students may request an “affiliate account” from the CWRU University Technology division, governed by the University’s Identity Management for Temporary and Non-CWRU Employees policy which requires approval through a request process and external approvers.
Access to e-resources granted by obtaining a CWRU “affiliate account” is separate and distinct from borrowing privileges or building access that may be obtained by the CWRU “affiliate libraries”, which include the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Library & Archives.
A selection of e-resources may allow alumni access as presented as an Alumni subset of e-resources in the A-Z Databases list.
Management of e-resource privileges is managed external to library operations by the Identity Management System to attain a Case Network ID. Once privileges are authorized, CWRU libraries manage e-resource access to those users primarily via OpenAthens and secondarily via the University IP network range. Access points are provided via the library websites, CWRU Libraries catalog, Research Guides, A-Z Database list, eJournal Portal, and elsewhere as appropriate.
E-resource licenses may allow guests visiting the physical library location to use guest computers to access the online resources. The e-resource descriptions in the A-Z Databases list describe when this type of access is not permitted.
Each user is responsible for complying with the terms and conditions of these license agreements, including any additional terms presented online upon accessing the e-resource. The e-resource providers (vendors and publishers) have mechanisms to identify unauthorized uses. If unauthorized use is suspected, access may be blocked. The block may be permanent or temporary until the user and/or CWRU can remedy the situation and notify the provider a solution has been implemented. Violations of the terms of a license agreement by one individual may result in permanent or temporary loss of access to the resource for the entire CWRU community.
E-resource licenses generally prohibit the following:
- Access by unauthorized users, including allowing others to use someone else’s Case Network ID
- Excessive or systematic downloading, copying, or printing of licensed content (for instance, entire journal issues or books), and bypassing any systems to prevent those actions
- Using software or other automated tools to systematically download licensed content ● Posting copyrighted materials to public websites or online
- Modifying, altering, or creating derivative works
- Commercial use
E-resource licenses generally permit the following:
- Licenses define authorized users as current CWRU students, faculty, staff, and affiliate accounts
- Most licenses also permit guest “walk-in” use within the physical library space by users who are not members of the CWRU community and are permitted to use the guest computers
- Fair use of copyrighted works, as stated in US copyright law, “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.”
Licenses may allow additional actions and services, such as data mining, text mining, sharing content with non-CWRU users, etc. If allowed, those terms will be announced via the description on the A-Z Databases list.
In accordance with the University’s Acceptable Use of Computing and Information Technology Resources policy, it is the responsibility of each member of the CWRU community to ensure that electronic resources are used in compliance with all relevant federal and state laws, and University policies.
Other Resources
- Please contact ksl-eresources@case.edu if you have any questions about access or appropriate uses of electronic resources.
- Visit the Library Resources Outage Dashboard to view announcements about e-resource platform downtime or other issues.
- A person not actively affiliated with the university but requires a CWRU Network ID for collaboration purposes may be sponsored for an affiliate account through an active CWRU faculty or staff member. The sponsor can make the request via the Affiliate Network ID Request/Renewal Form.