Self-Archiving in Digital Commons

When entering metadata in Digital Commons, users are encouraged to copy and paste the appropriate Rights and Access Note in the text field before selecting the corresponding Rights Statement from the pull-down menu.

If you have questions about a document’s copyright status or need assistance creating a custom Rights and Access Note, please contact your Subject Librarian.

For items produced or published by the University of Maine after December 31, 1922. When posting articles published in books, journals, or newspapers after 1922, utilize the copyright conditions cited by the publisher. For assistance determining copyright permissions for academic journals, please visit Sherpa/Romeo or contact your subject specialist.

Rights and Access Note: This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for non-commercial uses.

For items with no copyright in the United States (e.g. government documents; postage stamps), the following statement may be used.

Rights and Access Note: Rights assessment remains the responsibility of the researcher. No known restrictions on publication. 

For items published after December 31, 1922 (e.g. newspaper articles, books, photographs for which copyright has not been renewed by the creator’s family or estate)

Rights and Access Note: Rights assessment remains the responsibility of the researcher. No known restrictions on publication.

University of Maine faculty researchers are responsible to undertake due diligence when establishing the copyright status of full-text and other digital content uploaded in Digital Commons. If efforts to determine copyright status are unsuccessful, you may use the Copyright Undetermined rights statement.

Rights and Access Note: Rights assessment remains the responsibility of the researcher. No known restrictions on publication. 

For more information about additional Rights Statements.

The Digital Public Library of America adopted the standardized rights statements created by RightsStatements.org. These standards provide information about the copyright status and user permissions for individual works. The rights statements are designed for both human and machine users, making use of sematic web technology.

There are three categories of Rights Statements: in copyright; no copyright; and other. These statements were developed to compliment the Licenses and Public Domain Tools of Creative Commons.

By default, University of Maine publications created and/or published after December 31, 1922 are under copyright. If you are posting University of Maine content in Digital Commons—photographs, course catalogs, unpublished works, etc.—that was created after 1922, we recommend you use the “In Copyright, Educational Use Permitted” rights statement.

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