Honor Theses Repository Policy

Purpose

To define the policies to initiate and maintain an electronic repository of Davidson Honor and Kelley Scholar Theses so as to preserve these works and provide access to the Davidson College Community and the broader global audience as appropriate.

Policies

1. Davidson College Honors and Kelley Scholars Theses will be included in the Davidson College Library’s Digital Repository. Departmental thesis program coordinators shall make participating students aware of these policies, which shall also be posted on the Library website.

By participating in the thesis program each student:

  • 1.1 Grants the college Library a non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual license to:
    • 1.1.1 Store a digital version of their thesis in the Repository and by default make it available to general audiences in electronic format on the Internet unless an exemption request is made by the student as per Section 2, and approved by his/her thesis advisor, and the relevant department/program chairperson
    • 1.1.2 Create a back-up copy of their thesis for preservation purposes;
    • 1.1.3 Convert their thesis, without changing the content, to any other format or medium necessary for preservation and storage of the thesis; and
    • 1.1.4 Permit end users of the Repository to download and use their thesis for personal use of a non-commercial purpose.
  • 1.2 Acknowledges the following:
    • 1.2.1 Their thesis is an original work, and does not, to the best of their knowledge, infringe upon any third party’s copyright, including illustrations and images;
    • 1.2.2 The College will not be accountable for claims of copyright infringement;
    • 1.2.3 Copyright, intellectual property rights, and thesis ownership remains theirs.
  • 1.3 Agrees to provide via the online College Library Thesis Submission form a digital copy of the thesis in a PDF format no later than 1 week prior to graduation.  If there are questions, email tijohnson@davidson.edu.
  • 1.4 Agrees to submit an abstract of the thesis to the College Library of no greater than 250 words at the time of thesis submission.
  • 1.5 Agrees to submit a listing of up to 5 keywords to be used for subject indexing. The Library may adapt keywords to match ethical and inclusive metadata practices.

2. Exemptions

  • 2.1 Exemption Types:
    • 2.1.1 Restricted access such that only authenticated users (SSO) may access the thesis.
    • 2.1.2 An embargo on inclusion in the repository for three years.
    • 2.1.3 An embargo on inclusion in the repository for three years and restrict access such that only authenticated users (SSO) may access the thesis.
  • 2.2 Exemptions must be selected in the submission form.

3. Requests for Removal

Thesis Submission Form