About Institutional Repositories

Institutional Repositories (IRs) are a digital archive which centralizes, preserves, and provides access to an institution's intellectual output.

To learn more about Institutional Repositories, please visit the Digital Commons Resources page.

About Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons

Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons is a service of the Law Library at Widener University Commonwealth Law School offering worldwide open access to research, scholarship, campus publications and other creative works by members of the Widener Law Commonwealth community. The purpose of this repository is to archive and provide worldwide open access to original works, such as scholarly articles and publications, produced by the faculty, students, and others associated with Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

Collections

The open access collections found within Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons include both born-digital items and items digitized from physical or analog originals. Some formats are preferred for their preservation potential. The Law Library will work with content submitters to discuss and select the best formats for text or media.

All collections will be copyright-compliant and deemed relevant to Widener Law Commonwealth, its history, or in support of its academic and research goals.

Who may submit materials?

Materials generated from faculty, administrators, staff, students, associated groups or research centers of Widener University Commonwealth Law School can be included in the repository. This can also include, but not limited to, departmental publications or scholarly research, journals with Widener Law Commonwealth affiliated editors, conferences with Widener Law Commonwealth affiliation via organizers or location. We invite all institutes, centers, and conferences affiliated with the law school to submit their research, reports, and videos for inclusion as well.

Submitted content must conform to the technical limitations of the Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons platform. Acceptance of submitted content is contingent on appropriate formatting, metadata, copyright clearance, licensing or release, and intellectual property issues.

Disclaimer: The Law Library may refuse deposit of materials. Some of the reasons, but not limited to, may be:

  • If the content is legally restricted from being shared in an open access environment.
  • When affiliation with Widener Law Commonwealth cannot be determined or demonstrated.
  • If the content is deemed inappropriate or incompatible with the institutional repository’s objectives and scope.

    • What items may be submitted?

    Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons seeks to highlight research, scholarship, and creative works that demonstrate both excellence and the overall nature of the Widener University Commonwealth Law School’s intellectual contributions. The content accepted for deposit covers a broad spectrum of research, scholarship, campus publications and other original works produced by faculty, administrators, staff, students, associated groups or research centers currently affiliated with Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

    Examples of appropriate content include:

  • Published faculty research, including, but not limited to, journal articles, book chapters, working papers, conference papers, poster, and/or presentations, digital versions of conference papers and posters, as well as video/audio of conference presentations and supporting materials (e.g., presentation slides, notes, or handouts).etc. For journal articles, we encourage you to include an abstract if one is available as this will allow for more robust searching of the repository. Although final published form is preferred, pre-published format is also acceptable. Scholarly works may include previously published articles/chapters, pre-prints and post-prints. Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons will comply with all publishing agreements and copyright restrictions related to previous publication. Authors may deposit documents that update previous work. The preferred practice is to leave the original document visible, but clearly marked as a superseded version with references and links to and from the newer document. However, under certain circumstances an updated version of the work may replace an older version.
  • Teaching materials.
  • Dissertations, theses, and essays.
  • Presentations, papers, and video recordings from Law School hosted conferences.
  • Student notes that have been published in our Widener Commonwealth Law Review. Please note: as part of Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons, Widener Commonwealth Law Review has its own subsection.
  • Student papers that have won an external scholarly competition.
  • Video recordings of award ceremonies.
  • Law school events that directly relate to official centers, institutes, departments, units, or groups. May include digital images, presentations, conferences, workshops, or other materials of interest to the campus community.
  • Other Law School publications produced by official centers, institutes, departments, units, or groups that document their activities. These may include newsletters, brochures, alumni magazines, reports, or other materials of interest to the campus community.
  • Content of enduring value and historical content produced or sponsored by administrative offices, academic departments or research units may also be included.

    • This list is not exhaustive, and other materials will be considered as they align with previously stated parameters. This repository will not post or preserve community materials, historical content not associated with Widener University Commonwealth Law School, or alumni materials. Other content will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. If you have content that does not fall into any of these categories, contact Susan Giusti to discuss whether Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons is a good fit.

    What about copyright?

    All content submitted to Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons for inclusion must have sufficient rights to be made available in an open access repository. Any content must be submitted by the original author, creator, or their designee and permission from any additional authors or creators should be secured prior to submission. To post a work in the repository, you should hold the copyright to that work or have the approval of the copyright holder to do so. As the author, you are the copyright holder unless and until you transfer the copyright to someone else in a signed agreement. Publisher’s author agreements should state what rights have been retained by the author or creator. You should not transfer your copyright to a publisher that limits educational or non-profit access to your work. Intellectual property rights of any previously published content should be clear prior to inclusion in Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons. Submitting a published work requires that you are the copyright holder or have permission from the rights holder to place your work into a digital repository. The author/owner of work deposited in the repository must be willing and able to grant the Law Library a non-exclusive right to retain, distribute and preserve works deposited. The intellectual property rights to the work are not transferred and will remain with the rights holder. If a DMCA Takedown notice or other request for removal is received for any work in Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons, the work will be temporarily removed from public display while the ownership of intellectual property rights is investigated. Please note, additional permission in compliance with FERPA regulations may be necessary for depositing student work.

    How do I submit materials to the Digital Repository?

    For faculty scholarship submissions, simply attach either a PDF or a Microsoft Word document and submit via email to smgiusti@widener.edu. If submitting video recordings, sound clips, or digital images, please contact Susan Giusti for specific instructions.

    Access and Withdrawal

    All materials placed in Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons will be openly available worldwide. All content is discoverable through commercial search engines. Content placed in Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons is made available on a permanent basis. Documents may be removed from view only under some circumstances. The persistent URL and the citation remain visible, but other metadata are no longer searchable. Users following the persistent URL will see a message that the item was withdrawn.

    Viewer Privacy

    When a user browses, reads or downloads documents from Widener Law Commonwealth Digital Commons, information is automatically gathered and stored about the visit. The information does not identify the user personally and is collected for statistical purposes only.

    I still have a question. Who do I contact for more information?

    If you encounter any problems or have any questions about the repository, contact Susan Giusti.

    The Law Library reserves the right to change or modify these policies at any time without prior notice.