The University of Arizona Libraries licenses access to thousands of databases, journals, ebooks, streaming videos, and other electronic resources to support the teaching, research, and scholarship needs of our campus community. This includes current faculty, students, staff, Use of these digital products is governed by federal copyright law and the terms of each license agreement between the Libraries and the publisher or vendor.
These licensing agreements are legally binding contracts that govern the user of these resources. All authorized users of the University of Arizona are subject to the terms of these licenses. Most of these licensing agreements detail both acceptable uses and any usage limitations.
Vendors and publishers of electronic resources have the ability to monitor, count, control and deny access if they suspect inappropriate use. The misuse and violation of prohibited uses may result in loss of access to these resources for you or the entire U of A community.
Though each license is different, in general, authorized users of the University of Arizona may access such resources for noncommercial, educational, scholarly and research purposes.
Generally permitted uses
Uses consistent with the Fair Use provisions of the United States Copyright Act. Per the fair use doctrine, it is permissible to use limited portions of a copyrighted work for purposes such as commentary, criticism, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
- Viewing, downloading, copying, printing, and saving individual articles or a copy of search results
- Using e-resources for scholarly, educational, or scientific research, teaching, private study, and clinical purposes
- Sending a copy of an article to another authorized user (i.e. current faculty, students, or staff)
- Posting a link to the publisher’s version of the article on the Brightspace (D2L) course site
- Modifying the resource format in compliance with accessibility laws
Generally prohibited uses
- Sharing passwords/log-in information with unauthorized users
- Systematic downloading or printing of licensed e-resources through the use of robots, crawlers, scripts, or scraping
- Using e-resources for commercial gain (i.e. reselling, redistributing, or republishing licensed content, as well as any other uses that are intended for commercial purposes). This includes using resources for outside work not connected with degree requirements.
- Transmitting, disseminating, or otherwise making online content available to unauthorized users (i.e. sending to mailing lists or electronic bulletin boards)
- Posting the publisher's version or PDF of an article to a website on the open web (instead, post the URL to the article which will allow only authorized users access)
- Removing, obscuring, or modifying any copyright or other notices included in the materials
End User License Agreements
An individual account may be required by an e-resource provider’s platform in order to access some (or all) of the content. An individual account may also be necessary to utilize all of the features offered by the resource (such as saving a list of search results or bookmarking/notating ebook pages). These individual accounts require you to agree to individual terms of use, which may further limit your usage of the licensed materials. We encourage you to read those terms of use before agreeing to accept them.
Get help
- For questions about using library resources for TDM or LLMs, see Use library resources for TDM and LLM
- For specific questions about text and data mining or AI, email Heather Froehlich, Digital Scholarship Specialist
- For other licensing questions, email LBRY-collectionmanagement@email.arizona.edu
- For copyright and fair use guidance, email Ellen Dubinsky, Scholarly Communication Librarian
- For tips for connecting to library e-resources, see Connect to digital materials and online resources
This guidance is for informational purposes and should not be construed as legal advice. When in doubt, always contact library staff for assistance with specific situations.