eCommons Policies

Depositor Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the eCommons depositor are to:

  • Understand and observe eCommons policies.
  • Clear copyright for items deposited when copyright owner is not the depositor or Cornell University. Help with this may be available from Cornell's Copyright Services at Cornell University Library
  • Provide an accurate and full description of the deposited content, and verify its correctness once deposited.
  • Agree to the Deposit License.
  • If possible, make explicit the terms under which others can use the deposited content. One easy way to license your content to others is through the use of a Creative Commons license; see Copyright and intellectual property for more guidance.
  • Arrange for the deposit of the work into eCommons.

Responsibilities and Rights of Cornell University Library

The University Library agrees to:

  • Ensure items in eCommons are preserved according to the eCommons Preservation Support Policy.
  • Provide persistent and reliable access to items in eCommons.
  • Distribute content according to eCommons policies.
  • Review help requests within one business day of receipt, and respond within five business days. In cases where action by an eCommons administrator is needed shortly after a new submission (cross-listing to another collection, adding an embedded media player, etc.), users are advised to contact eCommons administrators well in advance to schedule the deposit and subsequent actions.

The University Library has the right to:

  • Review, amend, and redistribute metadata for any item in eCommons.
  • Refuse or withdraw any item that does not comply with the eCommons Content Collection Policy, and withdraw items in accordance with eCommons Withdrawal Policy.
  • Perform any necessary format changes to items to ensure the preservation of content, based on the eCommons Preservation Support Policy.
  • Charge a fee for services that require extensive centralized support by the eCommons staff (decided on a case-by-case basis).
  • Institute quotas (size of files, number of items) or pre-deposit selection or appraisal requirements if financial constraints require that limits be placed on eCommons's operations.
  • Ensure any collection's organizational structure, content policies, and workflows are consistent with eCommons policies.
  • Reassign control of a collection which has been abandoned, in order to ensure continued access to its items, and assume responsibility for managing collections without a designated coordinator.
  • Renegotiate terms of the original agreement with collections if necessary.

Updates to eCommons Policies:

We review and revise these policies as needed.