Repository Policies

Preservation and Deselection Policy

1. Memorial University Libraries cannot guarantee that all file formats will stand the test of time; however, the library has created a file format preservation plan which insures that submitted content will be accessible and usable over the long term.

2. All material on the Research Repository website is subject to temporary or permanent removal pending the outcome of a legitimate complaint. Legitimate complaints will normally be concerned with the ownership of intellectual property rights, moral rights, and other legal issues. Complaints will be dealt with as per our Notice and Take Down Policy.

Predatory Publishers

Memorial University Libraries will not upload materials from suspected predatory publishers.

Notice and Take Down Policy

Researchers and rights owners can choose to contribute to the Research Repository at their own discretion, and as such they also have to right to remove their own work, although we discourage the removal of an item once it is deposited. Remember that others may have linked to the permanent URL of your work.

All material on the Research Repository website is subject to temporary or permanent removal pending the outcome of a legitimate complaint. Legitimate complaints will normally be concerned with the ownership of intellectual property rights, moral rights, and other legal issues. Grounds for complaint may include (but not be limited to) unauthorized reproduction, integrity, breach of confidence, or data protection.

We will remove an item immediately, and inform the submitting faculty member, if we become aware of any illegal activity facilitated by an item in the Research Repository.

If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material on our website for which you have not given permission, or which is not covered by a limitation or exception in national law, please contact the repository manager by email at aambi@mun.ca. We require the following information:

Your contact details.
The bibliographic details of the material.
The exact and full URL where you found the material.
Proof that you are the rights holder and a statement that, under penalty of perjury, you are the rights holder or are an authorised representative.

Upon receipt of notification the ‘Notice and Takedown’ procedure is then invoked as follows:

The repository manager will acknowledge receipt of your complaint by email or letter and will make an initial assessment of the validity and plausibility of the complaint.
Upon receipt of a valid complaint the material will be temporarily removed from the Research Repository website pending an agreed solution.
The repository manager will contact the contributor who deposited the material, if relevant. The contributor will be notified that the material is subject to a complaint, under what allegations, and will be encouraged to assuage the complaints concerned.
The complainant and the contributor will be encouraged to resolve the issue swiftly and amicably. If necessary, the repository manager will spend a reasonable amount of time mediating between the complainant and the contributor in order to resolve the issue to their mutual satisfaction. One of four outcomes will result:

The item is unchanged (and restored to the Research Repository)
The item is replaced in the Research Repository with appropriate changes
The item is withheld from the Research Repository pending completion of an embargo period
The item is permanently removed from the Research Repository.