USC Press Open Carolina Description of Service for Manifold

In the Open Carolina collections maintained by USC Press, only contracted authors whose work has undergone peer review and whose projects have been approved by the USC Press Committee are eligible to have their work included. Creators with projects for consideration for inclusion in Open Carolina should review the Press’s website for detailed submission guidelines.

For creators contributing work to the Open Carolina collections maintained by USC Press, separate contracts will establish the terms of responsibility for content, formatting and presenting content, and the disposition of intellectual property hosted in Open Carolina.

All work published in Open Carolina will be open access, and USC Press will apply the appropriate Creative Commons license specified in the contract with the creator.

All content appearing in Open Carolina collections is protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Section 2 of the South Carolina Constitution.

Libraries Description of Service for Manifold

The University of South Carolina Libraries provides access to the Manifold digital publishing platform hosted by Manifold Digital Services to support USC research and teaching activity by providing access to self-publishing. Manifold 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). 

The primary uses of USC Manifold include but are not limited to the publication and dissemination of peer-reviewed projects such as open educational resources, open access journals, eBook monographs and edited collections, and multi-media scholarly presentations.

USC Manifold is also for active classroom use and public display of 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 USC Manifold collections sponsored by USC Libraries is available to current faculty, graduate students, and staff at the University, if approved by the USC Libraries team. Current USC affiliates may ask for “Project Creator status” which is intended for publications and projects that are based at USC. The Project Creator can create and edit as many projects as they wish.

Only active USC affiliates are eligible for Project Creator status. When a user is no longer affiliated with USC, they can no longer create new projects, but their existing projects will be maintained on the USC Manifold instance as long as the service exists.
Note that if a USC account holder becomes ineligible for Project Creator status during the lifetime of a publication or project (e.g. the individual leaves USC for another institution), they may grant project creator status to another USC affiliate.
USC Project Creators may export copies of project files if the scholar becomes ineligible for Project Creator status and no new USC Project Creator has been identified. Unpublished content will be subject to deletion based on space needed, but USC Libraries will generally not remove published content from USC 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., USC self-publishers) approved by the Libraries, each account is associated with a person’s active campus credentials. This specified “primary owner” is solely responsible for the information published on Manifold. 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, Libraries’ Copyright Guide ). In addition, primary site owners and contributing users are responsible for ensuring appropriate citation of all sources and attribution of all third-party works, regardless of the works' copyright status.

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).

All projects hosted on USC Manifold should reflect the positive and respectful learning and working environment of the University of South Carolina within which prevail basic rules of conduct for the entire University community, as well as the general community. USC users contributing to the collections maintained by USC Libraries should refer to the Policy on Responsible Use of USC Computers and Data. Rules of conduct are discussed in the University Policy on Student Conduct and the USC Faculty Manual.

No user contributing to the collections maintained by USC Libraries should collect or display sensitive information on their projects. They should never create content that contains or collects information that is restricted under USC’s Responsible Use of Data, Technology, and User Credentials. At all times, the Project Creator should ensure that all appropriate safeguards are in place (access restriction, etc.) before any project is published.

For Project Creators working with the USC Libraries collection, the Libraries 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 maintained in USC Libraries collections which it is felt that inappropriate content has been posted, USC will investigate and contact the project’s primary owner to initially discuss the issue. In exceptional cases, where the content is obviously unacceptable, USC 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 digres@mailbox.sc.edu.

USC Libraries Disclaimer

Each Manifold project created by a Project Creator must carry this disclaimer or contain a link to this disclaimer:

These pages do not in any way constitute official University of South Carolina 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 USC. USC 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, USC hereby disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. USC 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 USC Libraries' Access, Use, and Removal Policy page.

Availability

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

Accessibility

All content posted through the USC Manifold instance must be fully compliant with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which sets the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), as well as the University Policy on Digital Accessibility (IT 5.00). For questions and assistance with accessibility, please visit Digital Accessibility at USC.

USC Libraries Supplement to Manifold Terms of Service pertaining to collections under Libraries maintenance

USC 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 USC Libraries does offer project design consultations, we do not provide in-depth technical or editorial support or troubleshooting for users of Manifold. Users seeking guidance beyond account creation and eligibility and requiring more detailed technical instruction than the LibGuides (coming soon) should consult the Manifold Documentation.
Users commit to alerting USC 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 collection 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: USC 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 digres@mailbox.sc.edu. USC will not provide technical support for issues related to customizations made to your projects (e.g., troubleshooting CSS modification, etc.). USC does offer training for getting started with Manifold.
Archives: Manifold does provide project creators with self-archiving exports of Manifold Project Resources and Texts. For projects hosted in collections maintained by USC Libraries, 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.
- Contact USC Libraries for opportunities to archive projects in the University’s Scholar Commons
Retention: All Manifold projects hosted in collections maintained by USC Libraries will remain on the Service unless:
- The primary owner requests the site be removed.
- The site is in violation of the USC Libraries Manifold Terms of Use.
- The USC Manifold instance is discontinued.