California State University San Marcos (CSUSM) Special Collections documents, preserves, and makes accessible works of enduring historical and cultural value and other materials supporting the research and teaching mission of the California State University. In order to preserve the integrity of the historical and cultural record, CSUSM Special Collections does not generally support the removal or deletion of content made available online through a variety of means. However, CSUSM reserves the right to redact, remove, withdraw, or suppress digital surrogates under special circumstances.

We reserve the right to redact, suppress, remove, or restrict a resource if we have reason to believe it violates the right of a third party, including cases of accusations of libel, invasion of privacy, or plagiarism. We also reserve the right to remove or withdraw a publication that violates CSUSM policies.

An item may be considered for withdrawal on meeting one or more of the following criteria:

• The item was made accessible in error
• The item contains information that is sensitive, restricted, or otherwise should not be public
• The item is in violation of copyright or other laws, or of CSUSM and CSU policies
• The item has been proven to be fraudulent or plagiarized
• Continued online access poses a legitimate and proximate threat to the safety or well-being of an individual

Here are some reasons that do not necessarily  justify withdrawal: 

• An individual is concerned about reputational damage from something they authored or created in the past
• A user encounters a resource that they find potentially offensive or embarrassing
• A digital surrogate is outdated or superseded by a new version. 

Requests made through this form will be reviewed by the Head of Special Collections, the Dean of the University Library, and other stakeholders as deemed necessary. In some cases, items may be temporarily withdrawn from public view while the request is investigated and then returned to public view if reasons for withdrawal are not deemed to meet the above standards. The requestor will need to provide their name, the reason for their request, and their email in order for us to process it. The requester will be notified of receipt of their request within two business days and once a decision is made, will be appraised of that decision and rationale, as well as any follow-up action. Takedown requests will not be disseminated beyond stakeholders needed to evaluate the request, pending legal or security reasons. Please email CSUSM Special Collections at archives@csusm.edu if you have any problems filling out the withdrawal form. For takedown requests related to CSUSM’s ScholarWorks institutional repository, please use the ScholarWorks Withdrawal Form.

Actions taken in response to a request may vary between the following:

• Redaction: in cases of multi-authored works (e.g. newspapers, magazines, etc.), the preferred approach of CSUSM Special Collections is to redact relevant information from a specific part of the resource pertaining to the requestor. This can include actions like removing an author’s name from an article or caption, removing pertinent information about a requester, etc.

• Suppression and/or removal: in cases where redaction is not possible but action is necessary, a resource may be suppressed or removed. Suppression is the unpublishing of a digital resource, rendering it undiscoverable for the duration of the object’s unpublishing. This action may also happen while a request is under review. Removal is the unpublishing and deaccession a digital resource.

• Restriction is the removal of access to a particular resource under certain conditions. If conditions are met, then access to a restricted resource may be granted.