Section 1. Purpose & Scope:
1.1 West Virginia University acquires access to various electronic resources through license agreements between a vendor and the West Virginia Board of Governors or the West Virginia Higher Educational Policy Committee on behalf of West Virginia University. Typically, an educational license, like our licenses, is priced based upon the number of full-time equivalent students on a campus and requires that the University to only allow use of the electronic resources for educational purposes, i.e., teaching, research, and service.
1.2 The Purpose of this Policy is to establish who is an authorized user and what is an authorized use of our electronic resources in order to comply with the terms of the licenses. The Libraries is responsible for ensuring that only Authorized Users are granted access to the electronic resources and that Authorized Users are aware of any restriction on the use.
Section 2. Electronic Resources:
2.1 An Electronic Resource is defined as a licensed material in digital format accessible electronically. Examples of electronic-resources are electronic journals (e-journal), electronic books (e-book) and online databases in varied digital formats such as Adobe Acrobat documents, (pdf), and webpages, (html). E-resources can also include articles from newspapers, dictionaries or encyclopedias as well as images, and many other items.
Section 3. Authorized User:
3.1 The following classes of individuals are Authorized Users within the scope of our licenses:
- current faculty, staff, and students of West Virginia University as recorded in the University’s employee and student information management systems;
- affiliates who support the teaching, research, service activities of West Virginia University (e.g., employees of WVU Research Corporation, a research coordinator employed by WVUH or UHA, an adjunct faculty, preceptors); or
- patrons who physically visit a West Virginia University library during the time of the visit.
3.2 If an individual separates from the University (i.e. no longer an employee, student, or affiliate), they will be unable to access the electronic resources. However, they may access the electronic resources as a patron. A fee-for-access option of the electronic resources are not available through WVU Libraries and requests should be made directly to the vendor.
Section 4. Authorized Use:
4.1 Through the utilization of electronic resources licensed by West Virginia University Libraries, Authorized Users expressly consent to review and adhere to all pertinent terms and conditions. While each vendor's licensing terms may vary, typically, most licenses permit Authorized Users to:
- Print, download, or quote content for educational, research, or personal purposes.
- Generate hyperlinks to individual articles rather than to a resource's main page. For example, the Libraries routinely establish such "deep links" for the convenience of faculty and students, particularly within its Electronic Reserves service, which tailors web pages for specific courses or classes.
- Transmit articles to other Authorized Users.
4.2 The following are considered to be misuse of electronic resources and a potential violation of this Policy and the West Virginia University Acceptable Use Policy:
- infringe upon any copyright, trademark, patent, or other intellectual property rights associated with the electronic resource;
- employ the electronic resource for purposes other than educational or research endeavors;
- utilize the electronic resource for commercial purposes;
- engage in excessive or systematic downloading or copying of the electronic resource;
- incorporate the electronic resource into course packs or e-reserves without obtaining requisite permissions;
- facilitate unauthorized access or usage by third parties, including the sharing of passwords or access credentials;
- disseminate the electronic resource to individuals who are not Authorized Users, whether in electronic or hard-copy formats; or
- employ the electronic resource in an unlawful or otherwise inappropriate manner.
Section 5. Accessing Electronic Resources.
5.1 Most vendors restrict access to their electronic resources to a specific IP address range that West Virginia University provides to the vendor. In accordance with WVU’s Identity and Access Management Policy, Authorized Users must authenticate their identity using valid institutional credentials to access electronic resources remotely.
5.2 For individuals on campus or connecting through the WVU network, accessing an electronic resource does not require a separate login. For Authorized Users seeking access to electronic resources from off-campus (i.e. remote locations), they must establish connections through login links provided by the Libraries that will validate through the University’s two-factor authentication. This mechanism enables the Libraries to authenticate the credentials of Authorized Users.
Section 6. Interpretation and Enforcement.
6.1 The University’s Dean of Libraries, supported by the Office of General Counsel, will coordinate with appropriate University entities on the implementation and enforcement of this Policy. Responsibility for interpretation of this Policy rests with the Dean of Libraries.
6.2 Misuse or violation of these restrictions may result in the termination of access to the electronic resource for you and it may jeopardize the use of the electronic resource for other Authorized Users.
6.3 Any employee who violates this Policy will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action. Any student who violates this Policy will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct. Any individual affiliated with the University who violates this Policy will be subject to appropriate corrective action, including, but not limited to, termination of the individual’s relationship with the University and use of the electronic resources.
Responsible Unit: Library
Effective: July 1, 2024
Revision History: None
Review Date: July 1, 2025