Appropriate Use of Electronic Resources Policy

This article was featured in Library Notes, #46 (Winter 2008).

This fall the Galter Health Sciences Library implemented an Appropriate Use of Electronic Resources Policy. Users are expected to observe this policy when using electronic resources linked from the library’s website. Examples of an electronic resource include but are not limited to online journals, books, databases, and multimedia.

Many of the electronic resources to which the library subscribes are subject to licenses that govern our usage of the resource. Each license outlines how the resource can and cannot be used. When you choose to use a resource you are responsible for compliance with the vendor’s terms and conditions. While the terms and conditions vary from vendor to vendor, if you abide by the library’s Appropriate Use of the Electronic Resources Policy you should be in compliance with the vendor’s terms. In the past, when a user at Northwestern University has contravened the terms of a particular license, online access to that resource has been terminated for some or all of our users until the library took corrective action. Please help us maintain access to our electronic resources by following the guidelines outlined in the policy.

If a user fails to comply with this policy, the Galter Health Sciences Library reserves the right to restrict, suspend or revoke the individual user’s access to electronic resources and in extreme cases revoke access to the library and all its services.

This policy was approved by the Library Management Team, Feinberg School of Medicine’s Administration and the Library Committee.