Electronic Resource Use Guidelines

To provide access to subscription databases and electronic journals, ECU Libraries are required to sign licenses agreeing to certain terms and conditions regarding the use of the information or data. The guidelines below provide a general outline of acceptable and non-acceptable uses of our electronic resources. Many publishers are aware of the technological potential for violating license restrictions and may monitor the use of their products to ensure that the terms of the agreement are being followed. If these restrictions are violated, the provider may terminate access to the database or journal to the entire University.

Authorized users are:

  • Currently enrolled full or part-time ECU students
  • ECU faculty (full or part-time)
  • ECU staff (full or part-time)
  • Walk-in library users, while in the building
  • Area healthcare providers and ECU Health Medical Center employees (limited to some health-related resources)

Off campus/remote use is:

  • Available for most Web-based electronic resources
  • Available to ECU students, faculty, and staff with current ECU e-mail accounts through the ECU Libraries’ proxy server
  • Available to area healthcare providers through the AHEC Digital Library (limited to some health-related resources)
  • Available to ECU Health Medical Center employees through the ECU Health Medical Center Intranet (limited to some health-related resources)
  • Not available to users with Area Resident, Alumni, Friends of the Library, or Educator cards

Available for most Web-based electronic resources

  • Available for most Web-based electronic resources
  • Available to ECU students, faculty, and staff with current ECU e-mail accounts through the ECU Libraries’ proxy server
  • Available to area healthcare providers through the AHEC Digital Library (limited to some health-related resources)
  • Available to ECU Health Medical Center employees through the ECU Health Medical Center Intranet (limited to some health-related resources)
  • Not available to users with Area Resident, Alumni, Friends of the Library, or Educator cards

Acceptable uses generally include the ability to:

  • Browse, search, retrieve, and view content.
  • Print one copy of an article for personal use (scholarly, educational, or non-commercial research)
  • Download one copy of an article for personal use (scholarly, educational, or non-commercial research)
  • Send one copy of an article to an authorized user
  • Use brief quotations from the content with the customary acknowledgement of the source

Prohibited uses include:

  • Systematic copying or downloading (e.g., downloading/printing/copying all the articles in a journal issue)
  • Removal or alteration of the copyright notice on any licensed materials
  • Sending a copy of licensed material to an unauthorized user either in print or in electronic format (this includes sending licensed material to a listserv or mass e-mail)
  • Making licensed material available through an unsecured Internet server
  • Selling, distributing or otherwise commercially profiting from use of licensed material

All use of licensed materials is subject to copyright law (title 17, U.S. Code). Questions regarding terms and conditions for use of specific resources should be directed to the librarian at Joyner Library responsible for the acquisition of electronic and continuing resources.