Carleton University Library signs license agreements with vendors and publishers to provide Carleton students, faculty, and staff with access to electronic resources (databases, eJournals, eBooks, etc.) to support their teaching, learning, and research activities.

These license agreements restrict access to the electronic resources to authorized users. In most cases, only current Carleton students, faculty, and staff can access these resources. Most of these resources can also be accessed by on-campus visitors using Carleton’s wireless network or one of the computer workstations in the Library.

For off-campus (remote) use, only current Carleton students, faculty, and staff are permitted to access these resources. Certain groups, such as Carleton alumni, may have additional access remote access depending on the resource.

The agreements also set out acceptable and unacceptable uses of the databases by authorized users. Users who breach license agreements may lose access to resources and may face other disciplinary or legal consequences. Misuse may also result in loss of access to a given resource for the entire Carleton community.

It is normally acceptable to:

  • Search, view, and retrieve content for non-commercial, personal, or academic research needs.
  • Download, print, copy, or temporarily store reasonable* amounts or parts of the resource for non-commercial personal use.
  • Share content with other current Carleton faculty, staff, and students (between individuals, for personal use, not distribution to classes or committees).
  • Post links to specific content in such a way that it is available only to other authorized users.

It is normally unacceptable to:

  • Use the electronic resources for commercial purposes or for providing paid services.
  • Engage in systematic or substantial printing, copying or downloading of content (such as entire journal issues or books, financial and/or data sets, etc.).
  • Share content, login information or right to access with unauthorized persons or organizations.
  • Post actual content or articles to web sites or listservs or course management systems.
  • Modify or alter the content of licensed resources in any way.

Specific license conditions may be shown on the website of a given electronic resource under such headings as "Acceptable Use", "Conditions of Use", or "Copyright". License conditions may also be indicated on an article saved or printed from a database or online journal.

For all questions related to access or acceptable use of electronic resources, please contact askthelibrary@carleton.ca.