NYU Manifold at NYU Libraries Terms of Use

Description of Service

NYU Libraries manages and provides access to an instance of Manifold hosted by Manifold Digital Services. Manifold is a digital publishing platform that provides users with a means of creating annotatable, iterative projects that pull from documents authored in multiple file formats (EPUB, HTML, Word, Google Doc, Markdown). NYU Manifold, the NYU Libraries instance of Manifold, is meant to support NYU research and teaching activity by providing access to self-publishing within a collection of NYU projects.

The primary uses of NYU Manifold include but are not limited to Open Educational Resources, Open Access journals, ebooks and other edited collections of longer form works, and student publications.

The primary audience for this service is scholarly readers (and classrooms), publishers, and other creators of scholarly, web-based content. Anyone is eligible to create a general account with NYU Manifold and make use of some of its services depending on their user type and NYU affiliation. However, members of the NYU community who meet the eligibility requirements below may request Project Creator accounts through NYU Libraries, which serves as account manager for these special accounts.

NYU Manifold is for active classroom use and public display or projects but makes no promises to exist forever. Users will be notified in advance of any end of service; we cannot and do not guarantee digital immortality.

Eligibility

Access to the NYU Manifold instance sponsored by NYU Libraries is available to any current researchers, faculty, staff, and students at the University.

This service has tiers of User roles:

Reader: Anyone can read public projects without creating an account or logging in, regardless of affiliation with NYU.
Annotator: To annotate NYU Manifold, readers must create a Reader Account. Anyone may create a Reader Account, including non-active NYU users as well as non-NYU users. Users at this level can read publicly available projects and create annotations.
Project Creator: Users with a Project Creator status can create and edit as many projects as they wish. These accounts are available to current NYU community members if approved by the NYU Libraries team (see “Requesting a creator account” in the Manifold LibGuides). Current NYU affiliates (i.e. those who have an active netID) may ask for “Project Creator status” which is intended for publications and projects that are based at NYU.
- Only active NYU affiliates are eligible for Project Creator status. When a user is no longer affiliated with NYU, they can no longer create new projects, but their existing projects will be maintained on the NYU Manifold instance as long as the service exists.
- Note that if an NYU account holder becomes ineligible for Project Creator status during the lifetime of a publication or project (e.g. the individual leaves NYU for another institution), they may grant project creator status to another NYU affiliate.
- NYU Project Creators may export copies of project files if the scholar becomes ineligible for Project Creator status and no new NYU Project Creator has been identified. Unpublished content will be subject to deletion based on space needed, but NYU Libraries will generally not remove published content from NYU Manifold because of an inactive Project Creator status. Requests to remove published content for extenuating circumstances will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Responsibility for Content

For Project Creators (i.e. NYU self-publishers), each account is associated with a person’s NYU NetID. This specified “primary owner” is solely responsible for the information published on Manifold. While only the primary owner has administrative access to the account, the owner may give others (including non-NYU users) access to edit the projects created within the account. For example, if the owner is editing a student journal, other reader accounts can be granted editing permissions. In addition, the primary owner can make sites offered through Manifold visible to the public or make them private by restricting entitlements for the project.

Creation of sites may involve incorporation of original works of third parties (e.g., literature, photographs, music, software, film, and video works) that are covered by copyright laws. Primary site owners and contributing users are responsible for obtaining all permissions that may be necessary to incorporate works of third parties in their site. Use of such works may be permitted by principles of fair use, consistent with copyright laws (see, for example, NYU’s Copyright and Fair Use Statement, and NYU Libraries’ research guide, Copyright: Applying Fair Use).

The primary uses of Manifold include Open Education Resources and Open Access materials, and it is anticipated that many projects will warrant the use of an open license. For original content that is meant to be open and reusable, Project Creators are strongly encouraged to apply an open license to the material, such as a Creative Commons license (see the Creative Commons License Chooser tool or the NYU Libraries’ research guide, Copyright: Creative Commons).

Both individual sites and departmental projects should reflect the positive and respectful learning and working environment of New York University within which prevail basic rules of conduct for the entire University community, as well as the general community. Users should refer to the Policy on Responsible Use of NYU Computers and Data. Rules of conduct are discussed in the University Policy on Student Conduct, the NYU Faculty Handbook, and the Administrative and Professional Handbook.

Users should not collect or display sensitive information on their projects. They should never create content that contains or collects information that is restricted under NYU’s Data Classification Policy. At all times, the Project Creator should ensure that all appropriate safeguards are in place (access restriction, etc.) before any project is published.

Availability

Availability of NYU Manifold may be interrupted for maintenance and other updates and is provided on an ‘as is’ and ‘as available’ basis only. Publication with NYU Manifold does not ensure long-term preservation of content.

Monitoring

Although NYU does not routinely pre-screen, monitor, or regularly review content, it reserves the right to remove, at any time, at its sole discretion, any content that it considers to violate these Terms of Use or the terms of any other campus user agreements that may govern use of the campus networks, or that it deems in violation of University policy or local, state, or federal law. Should the University receive reports regarding a project on which it is felt that inappropriate content has been posted, NYU will investigate and contact the project’s primary owner to initially discuss the issue. In exceptional cases, where the content is obviously unacceptable, NYU will immediately remove the content, prior to contacting the project’s primary owner. Unacceptable content of this sort also may cause a project or account to be suspended, and in extreme cases, may result in disciplinary proceedings against the primary owner and/or contributing authors. Reports regarding inappropriate site content may be sent to nyu-manifold@nyu.edu.

NYU Disclaimer

Manifold projects will be available on the internet and, therefore, can be indexed and searched unless the site’s primary owner disables this feature. Each Manifold project must carry this disclaimer or contain a link to this disclaimer:

These pages do not in any way constitute official New York University content. The views and opinions expressed in the pages are strictly those of the page authors. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by NYU. NYU makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the site’s operation or the information, content or materials included on this site. To the full extent permissible by applicable law, NYU hereby disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. NYU will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of or inability to use this site. You expressly agree that you use this project solely at your own risk. Questions or concerns about project content should be directed to the page author. For copyright inquiries, follow the procedure outlined on the NYU Copyright Communications page.

NYU Libraries Supplement to Manifold Terms of Service

NYU Libraries will confirm eligibility for service according to the criteria above and reserves the right to close accounts for account holders found to be ineligible or in violation of any of the terms set out here.
While NYU Libraries does offer project design consultations, we do not provide in-depth technical or editorial support or troubleshooting for users of Manifold. Self-guided help and tutorials are available in our “Getting Started with Manifold” and “NYU Manifold Tips & Resources” LibGuides. Users seeking guidance beyond account creation and eligibility and requiring more detailed technical instruction than the LibGuides should consult the Manifold Documentation.
Users commit to alerting NYU Libraries as well as Manifold if they suspect their account has been inappropriately accessed.
The intended purpose of Manifold is to serve as a public library of open access publications; users agree to use this tool for this purpose and not as an all-purpose, mass digital archiving or web preservation system.

Features and Defaults

Service Updates: NYU Libraries may make changes to the Manifold service at any time.
Customization and Technical Support: Manifold allows a certain degree of customization by account owners. Project Creators can adjust projects within the restrictions of the overall Manifold environment. However, project creators take responsibility for their accounts and projects. Support is available for Project design questions via consultations and basic technical issues (e.g. assistance resetting passwords, resolving network outages) by emailing nyu-manifold@nyu.edu. NYU will not provide technical support for issues related to customizations made to your projects (e.g., troubleshooting CSS modification, etc.). NYU does offer training for getting started with Manifold and additional documentation through our “Getting Started with Manifold” and “NYU Manifold Tips & Resources” LibGuides.
Archives: Manifold does provide project creators with self-archiving exports of Manifold Project Resources and Texts. Prior to leaving the University community (and losing project creator status), users may export their content or choose to delete it. We cannot provide content migration to our service or from our service to any other services.
Retention: All Manifold projects will remain on the Service unless:
- The primary owner requests the site be removed.
- The site is in violation of the Manifold Terms of Use.
- The NYU Manifold instance is discontinued.

Karen Holmberg, Andres Burbano, and Pierre Puentes

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