Deep Blue Documents Institutional Repository - for Students

According to University of Michigan policy, “Students hold the copyright in works they author, unless they have authored works as EMPLOYEES or transferred their copyright in writing to the University or other entity.” This means that in general, students hold copyright in the works they complete for classes and other academic pursuits including theses and dissertations.

The rights copyright holders have in their works -- and their responsibilities when using content created by others -- are explained in guides the U-M Library Copyright Office maintains on Copyright Basics and Copyright for Dissertations.

One element of these rights that is important to depositing work in Deep Blue Documents is the right to permit or license use of your copyrighted work by others. In order to deposit works in Deep Blue Documents, copyright holders must agree to the Deep Blue Documents Terms of Use (see below). These terms include granting the University of Michigan a non-exclusive license to share your work with others by making it available in Deep Blue Documents.

In addition to granting this license, when you deposit your work in Deep Blue Documents as the copyright holder, you can assign a Creative Commons license to your work. Creative Commons licenses are one type of public use license that allow users to make specific uses without contacting the rights holder for permission. See the information below for details and please contact the U-M Library Copyright Office at copyright@umich.edu with any questions.

To deposit your work into Deep Blue Documents, you will need to agree to the following terms:

"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.