Misuse of e-resources by individual users that violates the terms of the Library's agreements with publishers may result in the suspension or termination of the entire University community's access to Library-subscribed e-resources.
The use of Library-subscribed e-resources is governed by license agreements negotiated between the University Library and publishers/vendors. It is important that our users abide by the terms of these agreements so that the entire University community can enjoy uninterrupted access to Library-subscribed e-resources. Users are requested to familiarize themselves with their responsibilities when using e-resources as shown below:
Authorized Users
Access to e-resources is provided to the current HKBU community only.
Copyright
The entirety of the content of Library-subscribed e-resources is protected by the copyright of the publishers/vendors.
Users are warned that they are fully responsible for any legal consequences arising from the infringement of applicable copyright laws.
Appropriate Use
Copyright regulations permit users to download, save, and print a reasonable portion of text, search results, or other information obtained from e-resources provided they are used solely for studying, teaching, or research purposes.
Do not share your access password with unauthorized users.
Do not copy and use information obtained from e-resources in your own work without proper attribution.
Excessive/Systematic Downloading
Systematic or programmatic downloading, copying, or archiving of an excessive portion of an e-resource in any form or medium is strictly prohibited. Examples:
Downloading articles one after the other continuously for a period of time.
Downloading tables of content, search results, or citations continuously for a period of time.
Downloading the complete run of an e-journal.
Downloading entire e-books.
Archiving of downloaded materials on local servers outside the control of the publisher/vendor without permission is prohibited.
Redistribution of Information
Reselling, redistributing, or reproduction of an e-resources content, search results, other output, or other information in any medium or form is strictly prohibited.
Posting retrieved/downloaded materials to a listserv, website, or e-mail list is prohibited.
Redistribution of materials to non-subscribers or non-subscribing institutions is prohibited.
Consequences of Agreement Violations
The publisher/vendor reserves the right to monitor the use of e-resources and track account activity. If unusual activity is detected, the machine that is the source of the suspected misuse will be traced.
The publisher/vendor may ask the Library to warn the user of the source machine, or even deny access to the e-resource involved to the entire University community.
Users are fully responsible for the legal and monetary penalties that may be applied by the publisher/vendor. The Library may also suspend violators from access to other Library-subscribed e-resources.
