What are licenses for electronic resources?

The Simon Fraser University Library has contracts with a variety of vendors and publishers that provide the campus with thousands of electronic resources (databases, e-journals, e-books, etc.) costing millions of dollars per year. 

In addition to paying for these resources, the Library negotiates license agreements that stipulate how and by whom a given resource may be used. Please note that the license terms take precedence over SFU’s Fair Dealing Guidelines and override the user rights in the Copyright Act. Only current faculty, students or staff are registered with the proxy server and thus able to access resources from off-campus (for those resources permitting off-campus access AKA remote access). In most cases, access for the general public (AKA walk-in users) is made available through computers within the Library. Learn more about who is authorized to access the Library’s electronic resources.

Here are some rules of thumb for good practices and avoiding improper use. Improper use, known as a license violation, can result in the university’s temporary, or permanent, loss of access to a resource.

Do's and don'ts

Usually OK:

Not OK:

  • Making a limited number of print or electronic copies for your personal use.
  • Systematic or substantial printing, copying or downloading (such as entire journal issues).
  • Using materials for personal, instructional or research needs.
  • Any commercial use including selling or re-distributing content, or providing access to someone outside of the university community, such as an employer.
  • Sharing with SFU faculty, staff and students.
  • Sharing with people other than registered SFU faculty, staff and students except via interlibrary loan.
  • Posting links to specific content.
  • Posting actual content or articles to third party web sites or listservs.
 
  • Modifying or altering the contents of licensed resources in any way.
 
  • Mounting, posting, uploading or incorporating any part of a licensed electronic resource on third party Artificial Intelligence platforms, such as ChatGPT.

Always acknowledge your source on any published or unpublished document when you use data found on electronic resources. 

How do I know what uses are permitted/prohibited for a given electronic resource?

Follow the license instructions related to some of the common uses (ex. Using electronic resources in course packs and reserves, printing and downloading, remote access, text and data mining, etc.) available in the databases list and within the Library Catalogue record of each resource by clicking on Show License.

See license details in the database record 

Step 1: Search or browse to a given database record from the databases list (example show below can be found here). Scroll down the page and click on the "show license" button.

Step 2: An extended display of license details will show indicating what uses are permitted or prohibited for this specific resource.  


 

See license details in the Library Catalogue records

Step 1: Search the Library Catalogue for a given resource (a database, book, book chapter, journal, article, etc.). In the "Access it" section within the record view, you could learn about the license details for this resource by clicking on the "show license" button. 
 

Step 2: An extended display of license details will show indicating what uses are permitted or prohibited for this specific resource. Scroll down for details related to TDM. 

 

Please note: If you are unsure about what those permissions/prohibitions mean for your use, check the electronic resources terms of use or contact the Electronic Resources Librarian at lib-licensing@sfu.ca.

Note: The information obtained from or through this website is provided as guidelines for using works for educational purposes and is not intended to constitute legal advice. Contact copy@sfu.ca with any questions. The Copyright Officer is not a lawyer or legal expert in copyright law and is able to provide a professional and not a legal opinion. A professional opinion is offered for information purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice.

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