Publishing Guidelines for World Wide Web Pages

Introduction

Murray State University (MSU) provides access to information resources (which includes the World Wide Web) for use by faculty, staff and students to further the University mission of teaching, learning, research and service. Use of University information resources should be in support of those objectives. The World Wide Web affords MSU a new medium to provide information to both internal and external University constituents. As with all communications, the University's Web presence should promote a positive image of the University to an audience consisting of prospective students and their families, other universities, accrediting agencies, funding agencies, the media and the public. The following guidelines have been developed to assist the University in presenting a consistent, high quality identity for the University. All departments and individuals providing information through MSU's Web sites must conform to these guidelines. Web pages which do not conform to these guidelines will not be published.

Web Document Types, Responsibilities and Requirements.

All University Web Documents
All pages produced utilizing University resources must abide by standards governing other university publications.
In addition:

Web authors must abide by University policy, state, and federal law, as well as appropriate licensing agreements relating to copyright and intellectual property.
Web authors must respect the rights of other users. All University policies relating to sexual, racial, and other forms of harassment apply to Web pages, just as they do to any other University publication.
Web authors must obtain written permission by the subject prior to publishing photographs of individuals on the University's Web site.
University information technology resources may not be used for personal profit and are subject to official university policy. The user may not utilize these resources for any commercial purpose without prior written authorization from the Vice President for Administrative Services and the Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Murray State University Web documents fall into three general categories:

Official University Web Documents.
The University home page (primary Internet entry point) is Murray State's "front door" for World Wide Web (Web) users. In many cases it forms the basis for the first impression that people have of the University. Its primary purposes are marketing and public relations for Murray State University. The University home page and supporting Web structure are managed by the Vice President for Institutional Advancement.

The internal Intranet (RacerNet) is managed and maintained by information systems. Its primary purpose is to serve as an internal communication medium for the MSU community.

In addition to requirements for all University Web documents identified above, pages with links from the University's home page that may be considered official University pages must comply with the following review and style guidelines:

Content Statements - of political or religious advocacy should not appear on official university pages.
Review - Vice Presidents and/or Deans have formally appointed Web Coordinators to administer Web activities for most major segments of the University. Web Coordinators attend regular meetings to discuss new developments, review policy, and exchange ideas. Web Coordinators for each unit have responsibility for approving and coordinating the development and maintenance of Web publications for their area.
Style - All University-level Web publications are subject to review and approval by the Vice President for Institutional Advancement for conformance to University standards for external communications, graphic identity and public information. In addition, University Web pages must contain:

Standard buttons to assist the user in navigating the University Web site
The name of the University and approved graphics that clearly identify the page as a publication of Murray State University
Name and contact information (including e-mail address of the individual responsible for the page)

Note - Templates are available on the MSU Web site to assist users in constructing pages that conform to these guidelines.

Individual Instructional/Research Pages/Course Pages
Instructional or research pages are pages produced by individuals or groups that directly advance instruction or research. Examples of this type of page include course materials (such as syllabi, class assignments, reading lists, etc.) or projects and grants related to current or planned research. Instructional/Research pages are created and maintained by their authors.

Authors are reminded that these pages should be appropriate reflections of the University's mission. The above guidelines for "All University Web documents" apply to Instructional/Research pages as they do to other documents created with University resources.

Individual Personal Pages
Any faculty, staff or student with a University computer account may create Web pages to be included on the University's web site as an individual page. Individual pages may be created for University mission related and professional purposes. They are expected to conform to University policies governing appropriate use of resources. For example, use of individual pages for illegal or commercial purposes is prohibited.

Personal pages on the MSU Web site are the responsibility of the person to whom the account is assigned. Therefore the pages are not subject to University policies for external communication, graphic identity, and public information. The above guidelines for "All University Web documents" apply to individual pages as they do to other documents created with University resources. A link to a general listing of all individual pages will not be provided from the university's main Web site.

The individual's home page (entry point) and any other pages used or designed as an alternate entry point must carry the following disclaimer at the top of each page:

Murray State University is not responsible for the contents of this (these) individual page(s). Comments on this (these) pages should be directed to the page author.

Reservation of Rights

The University reserves the right after appropriate warning and review, to disable and or remove the Web page links and publishing capability on University managed servers (or Internet accessibility to such by University supplied network components) of anyone who uses the Internet to violate University policy, to conduct or promote activities which are illegal or violate University contractual obligations, including but not limited to criminal acts or intellectual property (e.g. copyright) violations, to make accessible materials that are obscene or that damage the reputation or good will of the University or consume (or result in the consumption of) excessive amounts of computing or network resources. The University reserves the right to impose charges for use of computing or network resources.

With permission, guidelines in use at the University of Louisville, were utilized in developing this document.

Revised, Summer, 2001
The original document upon which this revision was based was:
Approved by ITAC 5/24/96
Approved by the Board of Regents, Murray State University, March, 1997

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