Deep Blue Documents Institutional Repository - for Students

Copyright law gives the copyright holder (most often the author or publisher) the right to control certain uses of their work. It also gives future users the rights to use those works in certain ways without asking for permission. In the United States today, copyright protection automatically covers all new copyrightable works. The moment a copyrightable work is fixed in a tangible medium of expression (e.g., written on a piece of paper or on your hard drive), it is subject to copyright (that is, you do not generally have to follow a process to own copyright in your own work, in most situations).

For more information about copyright, the U-M Library Copyright Office’s LibGuide on Copyright for Dissertations addresses common copyright questions specific to University of Michigan dissertation (and other student) authors.

A license can be applied to a work by the copyright holder, and permits certain uses of copyrighted materials. A public license pre-approves some uses without needing to contact the author/copyright holder. In order to deposit to Deep Blue Documents you must agree to our Terms of Service, including granting Deep Blue Documents a non-exclusive license to share your work. Additional public licenses are not required to deposit items into Deep Blue Documents, but they can be useful.

"Deep Blue, the University of Michigan Institutional Repository (referred to hereafter as the Repository), is a service of the University of Michigan Library, provided to lower access barriers and offer the widest possible dissemination for the intellectual and creative output of the University. The Repository also provides appropriate long-term preservation services for that content to ensure continuing access over time. Content is made available through a non-exclusive license granted by the author; there is no transfer of intellectual property rights accompanying submission of content to the Repository.

The authors or their designees grant to the Repository a non-exclusive right to:

• display and distribute the submission including its abstract and descriptive information in electronic format in accordance with the Repository's policies
• copy, convert or migrate the submission to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation and access
• keep more than one copy of the submission for purposes of security, back-up, and preservation

When depositing a Work, depositors or their designees should represent the Work's copyright status in a manner consistent with the University's copyright policy. The Repository is committed to open access and prefers that content be deposited without access restriction. However, it will make reasonable efforts to limit access to authorized Michigan users or specific users, if restrictions are associated with a submission at the time of deposit.

The Repository will work with the depositor or their designee to allow submissions to be added to, replaced or removed, to comply with subsequent changes to an item's access policy or to reflect a revision to the work. In the event a published submission is replaced or removed, the Repository will retain a descriptive record for citation purposes.

Although the depositor or their designee has the right to remove content from the Repository, we recommend that material be deposited in perpetuity, to ensure continuity of access and citation and to facilitate long-term preservation.

In addition, the depositor or their designee grants to the Repository the right to:

• share the descriptive information and abstract for the submission in a variety of settings to encourage access
• enhance descriptive information about the submission to support access

The Repository shall obtain express written permission from the author or their designee to use the content for any commercial purpose.

[...]

Content deemed to be official University records may be transferred to the control of the University Archives while remaining in the Repository."

A Creative Commons (CC) license is a public license that provides copyright holders—from individual creators and researchers to large institutions—a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their work in certain ways. A CC license on a copyrighted work offers more flexibility to others who want to re-use or share the work, without requesting further permission. Assigning a CC license to items deposited into Deep Blue Documents is optional.

Benefits of using a CC license:

• ...it encourages others to build upon and add value to the work
• ...it increases exposure and recognition because reuse is explicitly permitted 
• ...it reduces direct inquiries about permission to the author, saving them time and effort

For more information about CC licenses, please refer to the U-M Library Copyright Office’s Creative Commons libguide.

Students may apply an optional CC license for their work in Deep Blue Documents; our most commonly applied licenses are CC BY 4.0 and CC BY-NC 4.0. Please find below the description of what each of these Creative Commons (CC) license entails (for information on other licenses supported by Deep Blue, see our website or contact us at deepblue@umich.edu):

The CC BY license is the most accommodating of the Creative Commons licenses. It allows others to share (copy and redistribute) and adapt (remix and and build upon) the work, as long as the author is attributed. Students may read more about this license by visiting the CC BY License Deed.

The CC BY-NC license allows others to share and adapt your work for non-commercial (NC) purposes. Additionally, the licensor must give appropriate credit to the author. Students may read more about this license by visiting the CC BY NC License Deed.