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CDL ERMS Portal Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The CDL ERMS (Electronic Resource Management System) is used by CDL staff for managing UC electronic resources where CDL manages the payment or licensing processes. The CDL ERMS Portal interface provides UC campus library staff with an easy way to see which campuses participate in each license as well as access to license terms of use for these resources.

NOTE: As of January 2021, the ERMS is not actively being updated as CDL assesses its use alongside Alma. If the information you seek is not found, see below for ways to contact CDL for assistance.

Introductory Questions

How to use the CDL ERMS Portal

Common Questions – General

Common Questions – Terms of Use / Inter-Library Loan

Introductory Questions

What is the CDL ERMS portal?

The portal lists individual e-journal titles, electronic databases, and e-resource packages managed by CDL, including licensing terms of use, and participating campuses. Only active licenses are displayed in the portal. If you do not see an expected resource or a “View Terms of Use” link for a specific resource, send a feedback via the Questions? Contact CDL link.

Who is it for?

The portal is for use by UC library staff only; it is not intended for end-users.

Where do I go for help?

You can send a feedback via the Questions? Contact CDL link or call the CDL Helpline at 510.987.0550 for assistance with the CDL ERMS Portal.

How to use the CDL ERMS Portal

Find e-journals by title or ISSN

Use this feature to search for online journal holdings. Online content for specific journals is often provided by multiple vendors; when viewing Licensing Terms of Use for a title, licenses for all available platforms will be displayed on the “terms of use” page. Verify the name of the package/platform/database to ensure you are looking at the licensing terms for the intended access point.

For additional information on search box behavior, please see CDL ERMS Portal Search Help.

CDL-managed Databases & Packages

Databases and packages are displayed in a single list on the main portal page. Scroll down to locate a specific resource in the list.

Click the “View Terms of Use” link to view licensing terms, including participating campuses and ILL permissions, for the database or package.

Reviewing License “Terms of Use”

All library campus staff: A guide to understanding the content provided on the terms of use page is available in the Terms of Use Guide.

ILL staff: Fields relevant to ILL information are located in two separate groups of terms: ILL and Other Use Restrictions. More information about these fields can be found in the Terms of Use Guide.

Common Questions – General

Why is <x> ebook title is not in the title list?

  • The portal does not list individual ebook titles; however, ebook packages are listed under CDL-managed Databases & Packages on the main page.

What other information is not displayed in the portal?

  • The portal does not display information about free and/or Open Access packages.
  • Individually-licensed campus resources and titles are not included in this interface.
  • Resources licensed by a campus on behalf of multiple campuses (“Tier 2” resources) may have limited licensing data available under Terms of Use. Please contact CDL via the Questions? Contact CDL link for campus contact information.

Why doesn’t the link to resource take me to the regular resource interface?

The portal is not intended as an access point to listed resources; links to resources are provided for informational purposes only.
The Database or Package title links to the default URL for the resource as provided by Serials Solutions and may not be the same URL used by UC campuses to access the resource.
To ensure successful access to resource content, please use the links provided through Melvyl and/or your local campus discovery services..
If you have a question about the correct URL for campus access, send feedback via the Questions? Contact CDL link.

What are the contract dates for a specific license?

This is a feature request that has been reported to Serials Solutions. To view the contract dates for the license, please follow the Link to Local License in Terms of Use to review the redacted license.

I’m looking at terms of use for a title – why does the title have a licensing note that references another title?

The license terms displayed for each title are coming from the resource-level license. Some title-level exceptions are documented in the resource license. Unfortunately this means that those notes will also be viewable when looking at the terms for other titles in the package and it may be confusing.

There is a term that has a permission value of “blank”, and/or seemingly unrelated text in the note. What do I do?

Due to design of the underlying ERMS system, some fields are being used to store information that didn’t have an assigned field.
In this case, the Permissions field for a term may appear blank and/or there will be additional information in the Notes field. For more information about individual fields, please see the Terms of Use Guide.

Common Questions – Terms of Use / Inter-Library Loan

There is a term that has a permission value of “silent”, or includes the word “interpreted” in the note. What do I do?

For more information about “interpreted” fields and “silent” permissions, please see the Terms of Use Guide under “ILL”.

When electronic or print ILL is indicated as Permitted, does this include all geographic locations?

If there is language that explicitly places geographical restrictions on ILL, it will appear in the Other Use Restrictions (Public Note) field. The absence of that information only indicates that there was nothing definite in the license agreement.

Why is the ILL Record Keeping field blank, and what does it mean?

Due to design of the underlying ERMS system, some fields are being used to store information that didn’t have an assigned field.

For ILL, this is most evident in the ILL Record keeping note. In this case, the Permissions field may be blank, and the notes field contains additional information relevant to all ILL fields.

For more information about this and other individual fields, please see the Terms of Use Guide.