Access to the electronic resources listed on the Libraries’ website and catalog is restricted to current students, staff, and faculty for the purposes of research, teaching, and private study. The terms of every single electronic resource (databases, ebooks, etc.) the library provides apply to every enrolled student, faculty, and staff member at Washington University, as each are considered “authorized users” allowed to use these products.
Copyright Law (including the protections of fair use) and contractual license agreements govern the access, use, and reproduction of electronic resources. License terms can supersede that which the law allows. Each licensed product may have more specific or additional permissions or prohibitions. All individual patrons must comply with the specific Terms of Use and/or License Agreement for the applicable electronic resource.
| Permitted Use | Prohibited Use |
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Making limited print or electronic copies Example: Providing copies of a single article. |
Posting materials on a publicly accessible website or public listservs (mass reproduction and distribution) Example: Posting a .pdf of an article on a public website. |
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Sharing reasonable portions with other WashU individuals Example: Sharing a selected amount of a resource for research, education, or private study |
Allowing anyone other than authorized users to access the licensed resources, including sharing passwords Example: Sharing login credentials with a fellow researcher at another institution that does not have access to the same resource. |
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Posting/sharing links to the article or work Example: Sharing links of specific content with WashU faculty, students, or staff |
Selling or re-distributing content, or providing it to an employer (commercial use) Example: Using research articles for a side business or while employed at a non-WashU corporation. |
| Use of small amounts of attributed quotes in your own works |
Modifying, altering or creating derivatives (such as your own database of materials) without the permission of the licensor Example: Compiling portions of data from a database to create another database for a subset of researchers. |
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Temporarily storing reasonable portions Example: Printing or downloading a selected amount of material for research, education, or private study |
Using software or other automated tools to systematically download or retain substantial portions of information licensed content, such as robots or spiders (see Text and Data Mining Guide) Example: Writing a script to scrape content from a publisher's website. |
EndNote Users: Using the “Find Full Text” feature in EndNote is viewed by vendors as “excessive” downloading. This will result in the IP address to be blocked. Do not use the bulk/batch download “Find Full Text” feature.
AI Tools: Use of content with artificial intelligence tools is not allowed.
Each patron is responsible for ensuring they use these products solely for noncommercial, educational, scholarly or research use. All other University policies pertaining to computer use and conduct are applicable in the use of Library computer terminals and electronic resources. Violation may result in loss of access to these resources for the entire Washington University community. Patrons are individually responsible for their compliance with the terms and conditions of use.