Terms of Service

1. What Kairawan Is

Kairawan is a non-commercial, open-access scholarly initiative. We aggregate catalogue records from holding institutions worldwide and federate them into a single search surface. We provide optional transcription of manuscript page images via OCR. We do not host the manuscripts themselves; every result links back to the holding library's own viewer.

2. No Charge, No Account Required

The search engine is free for everyone, with no registration required for public reading. Accounts (free) are only required if you wish to contribute transcriptions, save searches, or use the API.

3. Acceptable Use

When you use Kairawan, you agree NOT to:

• Scrape, harvest, or mass-download the index in violation of our published rate limits without an API agreement.
• Attempt to disrupt or compromise the service, the underlying infrastructure, or other users' access.
• Submit transcriptions or contributions you do not have the right to publish.
• Use the service to harass, defame, or harm others.
• Bypass the rights or access controls that holding institutions place on their manuscript images.

We reserve the right to suspend access for users who violate these terms.

4. Intellectual Property

Manuscript content and source images remain the property of the holding institutions that contributed them. Kairawan claims no ownership of those works. Each search result clearly attributes the source institution and links to the institution's own viewer for the manuscript image.

Catalogue metadata we aggregate is generally published by source institutions under open licenses (CC0, CC BY, etc.); we preserve attribution and license terms.

Transcriptions and contributions you submit to Kairawan are published openly under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license, with attribution to you. You retain copyright but grant Kairawan a perpetual, non-exclusive license to publish and redistribute the contribution.

The Kairawan name, logo, and original interface are property of the Kairawan Project. The underlying search engine code and tools are released under open-source licenses where possible.

5. Disclaimers

Kairawan is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We make no guarantees about the completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the manuscript records aggregated from third-party sources. OCR and machine-generated transcriptions are best-effort; we do not warrant their fidelity for any particular use.

6. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Kairawan Project and its operators are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the service. Our total liability in any matter is limited to the amount you have paid us in the preceding twelve months (which, given the service is free, is zero).

7. Termination

You may stop using Kairawan and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms. We may also discontinue the service or specific features with reasonable notice.

8. Changes to These Terms

We will update these Terms as the service evolves. Material changes will be announced on this page; for registered users, by email as well. Continued use of the service after a change indicates acceptance of the updated Terms.

9. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by applicable laws of the jurisdiction in which the Kairawan Project is operated. Any disputes will be resolved through good-faith correspondence first, and through the competent courts of that jurisdiction if necessary.

10. Contact

For questions about these Terms:

Email: partnerships@kairawan.org
Website: kairawan.org