Policies

William Ready Division Collection Development Policy [PDF]

Copying and Reprographics Policy [PDF]

Bertrand Russell Archives Rules [PDF]

University Library Collection Policy

Context:

This document lays out the copyright approach used by the Digitization Centre at the McMaster University Library. The Digitization Centre digitizes Library-owned books and archives (including textual and graphic materials) and makes these materials publicly available through the Library’s Digital Archive online repository or the Institutional Repository, MacSphere where possible in accordance with relevant privacy legislation, donor agreements, and moral bounds. Materials that may not be made available on moral grounds include Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, other culturally sensitive materials, and/or other materials that are morally questionable to share, such as archives that reveal potentially damaging personal information, e.g. “outing” a private citizen.

This copyright approach applies to both published and unpublished works that may still be under copyright to a person or organization other than McMaster University, but are not available to purchase or license in a digital format.

Approach:

Since copyright is a rights-holder enforced system, managing copyright is largely about identifying and managing risk. Risk management is a combination of risk assessment and risk mitigation. Risk assessments look at the likelihood the copyright holder could enforce the copyright protection over an item. Risk mitigation is about due diligence and acting in good faith by having things like take down procedures in place.

As part of a risk management approach, the Digitization Centre will:

• Offer robust takedown procedures:
  • While we will operate in good faith to the best of our abilities, we may not be successful in tracking down a copyright holder or may mistakenly date an author’s death. As such, copyright holders whose material has been shared without written permission and who can substantiate their ownership may request materials be removed from online repositories at any time
• Seek permission from the copyright holder to make materials available, where feasible:
  • Copyright holders will be documented where known. Seeking permission will rely on identifiable and disambiguated creators or publishers, and the continued operation of a publisher
  • All attempts to seek permission will be documented and recorded
  • For unpublished materials, the Digitization Centre will seek permission from identifiable creators who are public figures or significant contributors to archival fonds (I.e. must have authored more than 10 documents or 100 pages)
• Copyright information will be documented but permission will not be sought:
  • For published works, when:
    • The creator can reasonably be assumed to have died
    • AND the work is out of print
    • AND the publisher is defunct
    • AND there is no known estate enforcing copyright
  • For unpublished works, when:
    • Creators cannot be identified (e.g. anonymous or unsigned works)
    • Creators cannot be disambiguated (e.g. common names with no other distinguishing identifiers, or significantly out of date identifiers, such as decades old addresses)
    • Creators did not make a significant contribution to the archival fonds and are not public figures (e.g. a private citizen who contributed a very small number of records, such as a single piece of correspondence)

**Note “make available” is being used here to mean ingesting digitized copies of full works into the openly accessible Digital Archive repository.

Notice of Collection

The information gathered on this form is collected under the authority of the McMaster University Act, 1976. The information is used for the academic, administrative, financial and statistical purposes of the University including, but not limited to, admissions; registration and maintaining records; awards and scholarships; convocation; provision of student services, including access to information systems; alumni; and disclosure to or on behalf of the applicable McMaster student government. This information is protected and is being collected under section 39(2) and section 42 of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act of Ontario (RSO 1990) (“FIPPA”). Questions regarding the collection or use of this personal information should be directed to the University Librarian, Room 203, Mills Memorial Library, McMaster University.

Privacy of Circulation Records

The Library holds all circulation records in confidence. Except in accordance with FIPPA or other applicable legislation, an order of a court, tribunal, or commission, or with an individual’s written consent, staff will not release information on the specific titles or the subject(s) of those titles a patron has borrowed to any third-party, or link a borrower’s name or other revealing identification with an item out on loan. This includes not providing such information to other borrowers, faculty, police or campus security, or credit or collection agencies. This policy covers all current and historical circulation records and interlibrary loan transactions. User records and circulation data are stored with a third-party service provider in a secure data centre. All Library transactions are transmitted over a secure connection and circulation data (items checked out) are purged 31 days after the items are checked in at the Library.

Users who choose to take advantage of additional features of their Library account should note that data retention may be different:

• Reading History: Users who opt-in to the reading history function will have data on their borrowed and returned items associated with their Library account until they opt-out. This data is available only to the user through their account and is not accessible by Library staff.
• Preferred Searches: Users who create preferred searches will see those search terms retained in their Library account until deleted by the user. Users who choose to have preferred search results e-mailed to them as new items are added to the library catalogue consent to the use of the e-mail address in their Library account for this purpose. Users may cancel the sending of these e-mail notifications at any time from their Library account. Library staff do not have access to preferred searches saved in a user’s account.

Although many databases and online journals are licensed for use within the physical premises of the library, the following are restricted to McMaster students, faculty, and staff:

• ARTFL Project
• Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
• Canadian Business Database (Reference USA)
• CANSIM via CHASS
• CSA Standards
• DBRS (Dominon Bond Rating Service)
• EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit)
• First Resort (Lancaster House)
• Mergent Online
• Microsoft Office
• Passport (Euromonitor)
• SciFinder Scholar
• Standard & Poor's Research Insight
• TSX-CRMRC (Toronto Stock Exchange product)
• Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS)

Guest Internet Accounts allow visitors to use the public computers in our libraries or to connect to Wifi to conduct library research.

Guest Internet Accounts can be used only in the libraries and will expire at library closing on the day of issue. Some e-resource restrictions apply (see policy: Databases and E-Resources Which Do Not Permit Walk-in Users)

Who is Eligible for a Guest Internet Account?

• Alumni
• Reciprocal borrowers
• Visiting scholars who are staying less than three months at McMaster

If you are a visiting scholar staying longer than three months, please have your sponsoring department submit a Person of Interest (POI) request form available on Mosaic.

McMaster University Library has signed institutional license agreements in order to provide access to full-text electronic journals and to a variety of indexes and abstracts in database form. These agreements require McMaster to protect the information contained in these electronic products against unauthorized use. Unauthorized use may result in the suspension of access to library facilities and materials, legal action and/or other penalties sanctioned by the Senate, and disciplinary action by the publisher which may include cancellation of the University's licensed access.

The following key features appear in most licenses:

• The license agreements identify the persons within the site who are authorized to access the database or journal.
  
  Users must be faculty, currently registered students, or staff of McMaster University. Only these individuals will be able to access the products through the campus IP address, within the Libraries, or from off-campus using off-campus access if using a commerical independent service provider. More information on off-campus access.
  
  Site definition: McMaster University campus is one site.
  
  Limits on simultaneous use: McMaster University Library has attempted to license access for as many simultaneous users as required. For most products access is unlimited, but some e-books may be limited to one or three simultaneous users. Questions about access to individual titles/products should be referred to Janice Adlington, Head, Collections & Content Strategy.
• Authorized users may view, download, copy and save to hard disk or storage device, and store for editing or temporary storage only, or print out SINGLE COPIES of individual search results or SINGLE COPIES of individual articles [NOT ENTIRE ISSUES OF JOURNALS] for personal use, scholarly, educational or scientific research or study, as governed by Canadian Copyright Law. Users may not use robots or intelligent agents to access, search and/or systematically download any portion of the licensed products.
• Authorized users must not transmit, disseminate or otherwise make the Licensed Materials or any components thereof available to persons or entities who are not Authorized McMaster users by any means, including electronic, nor on any storage medium, including electronic, optical, or print, whether in return for a fee or otherwise. Commercial use of these products is not permitted.
• Authorized Users must not divulge or disseminate a password or enable anyone who is not an Authorized User to gain access to the Licensed Materials. Users also may not share their credentials with unauthorized Users.
• Users are not permitted to disassemble, decompile or in any way attempt to reverse engineer any software provided as part of the data product.

March 2017

Lobby display tables and charity drop-boxes must be approved in advance.  Request approval

Authorized Groups:  The request is initiated by a department or office of McMaster University OR a sanctioned MSU club.  The display or charity drop-box has no association with a commercial enterprise.

NOTE: Student Groups must first fill out a Student Event Planning Approval Form (EOHSS). Once approval has been received from EOHSS proceed to completing the following application. You must include the EOHSS approval with this application.

Space:  The display is localized to one table and two chairs (provided by the Library).  Expansion beyond this space must be approved prior to the event with the designated library staff member in that building.  

Number of Bookings:  Mills and Thode will each allow one information display table at a given time.  Mills, Thode and Innis will each allow one charity drop-box at a given time.  Groups are allotted a maximum of five table bookings per month.  

Days and Times:  Unless previously negotiated, tables are available from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday to Friday.  

No Shows:  Groups who fail to show more than three times lose their booking privileges for 2 months.   Any previously-booked tables will be cancelled.  

Library Regulations:  Groups must abide by all library regulations including signage (no signs affixed to walls, pillars, etc.)

Selling: Tables are not to be used for the sale of merchandise, nor should monetary donations be accepted.  

Aggressive Behaviour: Groups may not approach users in the lobby.  Information may be presented to those who stop at the table and show interest.  

Objectionable Material:  The Library supports an inclusive community.   The Library reserves the right to reject material that is discriminatory, profane or otherwise offensive.  

Latex:  The Library prohibits the use of latex balloons in any displays. 

1. EATING: Eating and beverages in a covered container are permitted in all areas except Mills Research Collections (Mills, Lower Level), the Lloyd Reeds Map Collection (Mills, L102), the Lyons New Media Centre, CATS, and Thode Makerspace. 
2. NOISE: Loud conversation, offensive language, rowdy or disruptive behaviour is prohibited in all library spaces. 
3. SILENT STUDY: Conversation is not permitted in designated Silent Study areas (Mills - 6th floor, Connections, CATS; Innis- Silent Study Room). If unable to resolve noise issues in Silent Study areas on their own, users are welcome to report infractions to quiet@mcmaster.ca or use the online form.
4. ELECTRONIC DEVICES: All personal electronic devices (cell phones, laptops, public computers, etc...) must be used with earphones and the volume must be kept low. Please move away from others when speaking with others. Users will abide by the University's Acceptable Use policies for campus computers. 
5. STUDY SPACE: Study space cannot be reserved. Attempts to monopolize study rooms will be considered a breach of these regulations. McMaster's library study rooms are available to students seeking space for collaborative study and academic purposes. Recognized clubs and organizations seeking meeting room space can book a room in the McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC). The Library reserves the right to cancel any bookings which contravenes this policy. 
6. PROPERTY: The Library is not responsible for personal belongings left unattended. Private papers and materials left unattended on tables, carrels, or computer stations may be removed by staff.  
7. OBSTRUCTING ACCESS: Users will not block access to library collections, facilities or services. Electrical cords must not cross aisles or open spaces. Users may not congregate at entrance/exit doors or on ramps.
8. SMOKING / DRUGS: Neither smoking (this includes vaping) nor using illegal drugs is permitted anywhere in the Library. 
9. ANIMALS: With the exception of Service Animals and Service Animals in Training, no animals or pets are permitted in Library spaces. (RMM 409) 
10. VANDALISM: No user shall engage in vandalizing or defacing library buildings, collections, furniture or equipment.
11. GARBAGE: All garbage and waste materials must be disposed of in the proper receptacles.
12. SPORTS ACTIVITIES, ETC.: No sports activities are permitted anywhere in the libraries, including but not limited to ball playing and the use of roller skates, in-line skates, scooters, skate boards or bicycles.
13. SOLICITING: Soliciting and begging are not permitted in the Libraries.
14. FILMING: Photographing, filming or video/audio recording is prohibited unless with the express, prior permission of the Library. Please submit a Request for filming form. 
15. SIGNS: Permission to post signs must be obtained before signs can be posted. (See a service desk for further details.) Library staff will take down unauthorized signs. Signs should never be taped to painted walls as removing them may cause damage to the surface.
16. RESHELVING: Users are asked not to reshelve library materials. Used materials should be left out on tables or in designated areas for library staff to reshelve. This helps track material use and reduces misshelving.