Community of Online Research Assignments

An open access resource for librarians and educators

CORA Acceptable Use Policy

1. Introduction

This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) governs the access and use of the Community of Online Research Assignments (CORA) website (projectcora.org) and all associated digital services administered by the William H. Hannon Library at Loyola Marymount University ("LMU", "we", "us"). This AUP applies to all users—whether browsing as an unregistered visitor or participating as a registered contributor. 

The purpose of this policy is to foster an open, collaborative environment for pedagogical sharing while protecting contributors, users, and the university from unlawful, unethical, or irresponsible conduct. Failure to abide by this AUP may result in: 

  • The immediate suspension or permanent termination of contributor account privileges; 
  • The removal or unlinking of contributed content; 
  • Formal notification of abusive conduct to the violator's affiliated academic institution or employer; and/or 
  • Legal action or referral to law enforcement where warranted.

This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) applies to all CORA-branded websites and is intended to help all CORA users (registered or not) understand how the contents found in CORA may be used. All users of CORA must comply with this AUP, the purpose of which is to encourage the reuse of CORA materials while also helping to protect CORA contributors from illegal or irresponsible activities.

2. Acceptable Use & Open Licensing

2.1 Open Educational Licensing (Creative Commons) 

Unless otherwise explicitly designated, educational materials, assignments, worksheets, and rubrics published on CORA are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Under this license, you are free to: 

  • Share: Copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for non-commercial educational purposes. 
  • Adapt: Remix, transform, and build upon the material for course instruction. Under the following mandatory terms: 
  • Attribution: You must give appropriate credit to the original author/contributor, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. 
  • Noncommercial: You may not use the material for commercial purposes or fee-for-service products. 
  • Share Alike: If you remix or modify the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same CC BY-NC-SA license. 

For detailed guidance on how to cite and adapt lesson plans, please consult the CORA Contributor FAQ (https://projectcora.org/faq).

3. Prohibited Uses & Activities

The following activities constitute direct violations of this AUP: 

  • Commercial Exploitation: Selling, reselling, sublicensing, or charging access fees for CORA materials, assignments, or platform features. 
  • Spam & Unsolicited Communications: Distributing unsolicited commercial email, promotional marketing, or bulk/mass communications to CORA contributors using email addresses or contact information obtained from the site. 
  • Automated Scraping & Data Harvesting: Using any automated bot, scraper, spider, crawler, script, or manual process to systematically harvest, extract, or mine contributor profile data, directory entries, email lists, or assignment content. 
  • Commercial AI Training Ban: Ingesting, scraping, or utilizing any CORA content, pedagogical artifacts, or contributor personal data for the purpose of training, retraining, fine-tuning, or validating commercial Artificial Intelligence (AI) models, Large Language Models (LLMs), or machine learning algorithms without express written authorization from LMU.
  • Fraudulent & Harmful Conduct: Impersonating another person or institution; misrepresenting educational affiliations; using CORA to distribute malware or phishing links; or engaging in any activity that harms or attempts to harm minors. 
  • Security Circumvention: Attempting to bypass platform access controls, probe system vulnerabilities, access non-public server directories, or disrupt server infrastructure.

3a. Community Standards for Posted Content (Including Comments)

All content submitted to CORA — including assignments, pedagogical reflections, and discussion comments — must maintain professional educational standards and remain focused on higher education teaching and information literacy.

Prohibited Content: Content that is vulgar, obscene, defamatory, hateful, harassing, or lacking pedagogical value — including material copyrighted by someone other than the submitter, abusive language, name-calling, personal attacks, or content encouraging such conduct — will not be approved and will be removed immediately.

Advertising: Direct commercial advertising of any business, product, or service — in assignment descriptions, comments, or anywhere else on the site — is strictly prohibited. Brief, factual mentions of relevant educational books, software tools, or institutional affiliations are permitted only on a contributor's own profile page. CORA will delete any content construed as advertising.

Moderation Authority: CORA administrators reserve the right to review, edit, unpublish, or delete any content, and to block or revoke posting or account privileges for any behavior determined to be damaging or disruptive to the academic community.

Questions regarding content appropriateness may be directed to: susan.archambault@lmu.edu

4. User Obligations

4a. Abide by Applicable Laws

In connection with your use of CORA, you are required to abide by all applicable federal, state, and local laws, including those pertaining to libel, slander, defamation, trade libel, product disparagement, harassment, invasion of privacy, tort, obscenity, indecency, and copyright or trademark infringement.

4b. Online Communications

You are cautioned that online communications may not be fully confidential. As part of their regular duties, CORA personnel may access your personal profile and/or communications for technical or operational purposes. CORA may also disclose any information discovered through such access to the extent permitted or required by law. For more information about how CORA handles personal information, please see our Privacy Policy.

4c. Content of Information

You are responsible for any content you submit to CORA. CORA has no obligation to monitor any material that is or becomes available on CORA, but reserves the right to review any such material. CORA reserves the right to refuse to post, or to remove, any materials that are, in our judgment, unacceptable, undesirable, or in violation of this policy.

However, CORA has no obligation to exercise this reservation of rights. CORA will, in appropriate circumstances, terminate the accounts of users who infringe the intellectual property rights of others. CORA may terminate access for contributors found to repeatedly provide material without the necessary rights or permissions.

4d. Intellectual Property & DMCA Copyright Takedown Procedure

Loyola Marymount University respects the intellectual property rights of others and complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (17 U.S.C. § 512). Contributors warrant that they possess all necessary rights, permissions, and intellectual property ownership to publish submitted materials under Creative Commons licenses. In accordance with federal law, LMU maintains a registered Designated Copyright Agent with the U.S. Copyright Office. If you believe in good faith that your copyrighted work has been reproduced or made available on the CORA platform without authorization, you or your authorized agent may submit a formal Notice of Claimed Infringement containing the following statutory elements: 

  1. Physical or Electronic Signature: A signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. 
  2. Identification of Copyrighted Work: Clear identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or a representative list if multiple works are involved). 
  3. Identification of Infringing Material: Specific identification of the material claimed to be infringing, including the exact URL(s) on projectcora.org. 
  4. Contact Information: Your full legal name, mailing address, telephone number, and email address. 
  5. Good-Faith Statement: A statement that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. 
  6. Perjury & Accuracy Statement: A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner. 

Formal DMCA notices must be submitted directly to LMU’s Designated Copyright Agent: Designated DMCA Copyright Agent Information Technology Services / Office of General Counsel Loyola Marymount University 1 LMU Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90045 Email: dmca@lmu.edu | Phone: (310) 338-7777 Web: https://www.lmu.edu/dmca

5. Reporting Violations & Contact Directory

If you discover or suspect a violation of this Acceptable Use Policy, please report it to the appropriate institutional contact: 

  • General AUP Violations & Editorial Questions: CORA Project Team | William H. Hannon Library Email: susan.archambault@lmu.edu 
  • Data Privacy & Account Security Concerns: Information Security & Data Privacy Office Loyola Marymount University Email: dataprivacy@lmu.edu | Phone: (310) 568-6691 

• Copyright Infringement Claims: Designated DMCA Copyright Agent Email: dmca@lmu.edu

6. Policy Governance & Modifications

LMU reserves the right to amend or update this Acceptable Use Policy at any time. Material changes will be announced on the CORA homepage and reflected by an updated "Effective Date" at the top of this document. Continued use of the CORA platform following published modifications constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.