Cal Poly Pomona University Library Research Guides Policy

Library faculty and staff are granted access and may serve as guide owners and editors. Library employees may request access to LibGuides from their Unit Head or the Library Technology Services department. Student employees may be granted editing access under the supervision of a library employee but may not serve as guide owners.

Each LibGuide must have a designated guide owner who is responsible for its content and maintenance. In the event a library employee leaves Cal Poly Pomona, ownership of guide(s) may be transferred to "Library Staff" until ownership can be transferred to an appropriate guide owner. In the meantime, the respective Unit Head will maintain full responsibility for that guide.

Guide owners are responsible for:

• Reviewing guides regularly for accuracy, accessibility, currency, and broken links.
• Updating or removing outdated content.
• Ensuring compliance with this policy and other applicable university policies that supersede it.

All research guides must comply with Cal Poly Pomona's web accessibility and applicable standards. Guide owners are responsible for ensuring that content published in research guides is accessible to all users.

Authors should follow current campus accessibility guidance and best practices when creating research guide content. Refer to Cal Poly Pomona's Web Accessibility website for current requirements and documentation.

Guides that do not comply with accessibility standards will be made private until they comply. Guide owners are responsible for maintaining accessibility compliance across all guides assigned to them, including guides created prior to current standards and guides assigned to them but not originally created by them.

Guide owners are responsible for complying with copyright law and respecting the intellectual property rights of others. Content created by others, including text, images, media, and other materials, must be used in accordance with applicable copyright law, license agreements, and University policies. Sources should be cited appropriately, and attribution added where applicable.

Guide owners who wish to make their content available for reuse should indicate their preferred terms using an appropriate Creative Commons license.

Guide content must comply with the terms of license agreements governing library resources and third-party content.

Content published in research guides must comply with applicable University policies, including policies governing professional conduct, nondiscrimination, harassment, and acceptable use of University technology resources.

Any member of the University community or the public may submit a Request for Reconsideration concerning a publicly available research guide.

The burden rests with the requester to demonstrate that the challenged content materially conflicts with applicable Library or University policy or otherwise falls outside the protections of academic freedom.

A request must:

• identify the specific research guide and the specific content being challenged;
• demonstrate that the requester has reviewed the research guides substantially;
• state the basis for the request with reference to applicable Library or University policy, rather than disagreement with the viewpoints or conclusions expressed; and
• describe the action requested.

Requests that are incomplete or fail to present sufficient information to support reconsideration may be dismissed without further review.

The Dean (or appropriate administrator) shall acknowledge receipt of a completed Request for Reconsideration, notify the research guide owner, and refer the request to the Library Leadership Council.

The challenged research guides shall remain publicly available during the review process, except in the extreme circumstance that a temporary restriction is required to address an imminent and demonstrable safety risk. Any temporary restriction shall not constitute a determination on the merits of the request.

The research guide owner may be consulted to clarify the scholarly, instructional, research, or service purpose of the research guide where such clarification would materially assist the review. Such consultation shall not shift the burden of proof from the requester to the owner.

The purpose of reconsideration is to determine whether the challenged research guide, considered as a whole, continues to support the mission of the University Library and complies with applicable Library and University policies.

In conducting its review, Library Leadership Council shall consider:

• the research guide as a whole, including its organization, annotations, and contextual framing;
• the research guide's instructional, research, or public service purposes;
• the context in which the challenged content appears;
• applicable principles of academic freedom and intellectual freedom; and
• applicable University and Library policies.

Library Leadership Council shall not base its recommendation solely upon disagreement with the viewpoints expressed, the controversial nature of the subject matter, isolated passages or images viewed outside their context, or public, political, or ideological disagreement with the content.

Following its review, Library Leadership Council shall prepare written findings explaining how the request was evaluated under the standards established by this policy and shall provide a recommendation to the Dean (or appropriate administrator).

Neither Library Leadership Council nor the Dean shall compel substantive revision solely because it has been challenged or because individuals disagree with its viewpoints, conclusions, or interpretive framework.

The Dean or appropriate administrator shall issue a written determination explaining the basis for the decision with reference to the standards established by this policy. The determination shall be provided to both the requester and the research guide owner.

Either the requester or the research guide owner may appeal the Dean's (or appropriate administrator’s) determination within thirty (30) calendar days based on significant new information or substantial procedural error. Nothing in this policy limits rights or remedies otherwise available under applicable University policy or the Collective Bargaining Agreement.