Acquisition Policy DRAFT

Purpose

This document is designed to articulate the Acquisition Policy of cIRcle, UBC’s digital repository, as pertaining to digital objects to be housed, through submission or request, within the digital repository, and in the context of cIRcle’s mandate.

Scope

This policy covers all digital objects submitted to cIRcle. For clarification of the type of content eligible for submission to cIRcle in terms of the Acquisition Policy, please see our cIRcle Content Guidelines.

cIRcle Working Mandate

cIRcle is the University of British Columbia’s digital repository for research and teaching materials created by the UBC community and its partners. Materials in cIRcle are openly accessible to anyone on the Web, have persistent URLs, and will be continually preserved.

Policy Statement

Clear and systematic acquisition criteria are necessary to ensure that cIRcle can meet its obligations to its depositors and users. Specifically, such criteria ensure that digital objects acquired by cIRcle:
• Fall within its collection mandate, being part of the intellectual output of the UBC Community;
• Are legally deposited and made accessible to users; and
• Can be preserved for current and future users.

Digital Object Specifications

Acceptable Digital Objects
cIRcle will accept research, academic and related creative materials developed by members of the UBC community, including, but not limited to, products generated by faculty and students. Policies developed by UBC cIRcle communities (e.g. faculties, departments, or research units) in conjunction with the cIRcle Coordinator will guide the submission of digital objects to cIRcle. Material developed as a part of or resulting from the activities of the UBC community that fall outside the research, academic and creative arena may be accepted after consultation with the cIRcle Coordinator and, if appropriate, the University Archivist.

Digital objects submitted to cIRcle should be complete at the time of submission. If multiple files constitute a digital object, all of the files must be provided at time of submission. If the digital object is part of a series or set of related works, the other works in that series should, if possible, also be deposited into cIRcle, and appropriate metadata added to the digital object(s) stating it is part of a series.

Time limited embargos may be placed on digital objects at time of deposit for reasons including, but not limited to, pending publication, and the confidential or commercially sensitive nature of the information they contain. Final embargo status depends on policies developed by cIRcle communities, e.g., the Faculty of Graduate Studies, in consultation with the cIRcle Coordinator.

Authors may only submit their own work to cIRcle. If a work is co-authored, an author may submit the work to cIRcle provided that said author has obtained the necessary copyright permissions from the other author(s).

cIRcle does not vet or peer-review submissions and is not responsible for the reliability and accuracy of submitted content. Authors are responsible for the reliability and accuracy of content submitted to cIRcle. UBC academic supervisors are responsible for approving UBC student content for submission to cIRcle.

File Formats
Although cIRcle will currently accept the submission of nearly all file types, a list of file types for which preservation will be ensured is being generated. These file types will be listed in the forthcoming File Format Guidelines.

File types that are not included within this list will be identified as either known or unknown. cIRcle cannot guarantee the preservation of such files, although bit preservation of these files will be ensured.

Metadata
cIRcle applies modified Dublin Core metadata to all digital objects submitted to cIRcle.

Copyright and Intellectual Property

cIRcle does not require authors to surrender or transfer their copyright. Authors must hold the copyright or distribution rights to material(s) submitted to cIRcle, and must grant cIRcle permission to make said material freely available in the digital repository, and to act upon it for preservation purposes.

Withdrawal

Digital objects will not be removed from cIRcle. However, public access to digital objects may be withdrawn for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to, proven copyright violation or plagiarism, national security, falsified research, or publication embargo. In case of a dispute, the cIRcle Coordinator may remove the digital object from public view, pending resolution of the dispute, and should notify the author or copyright holder accordingly. Authors may also request withdrawal of a digital object for a variety of reasons. The head of the cIRcle community, the author or copyright holder, and the cIRcle Coordinator must approve such withdrawal of a digital object(s). The metadata for digital objects withdrawn from cIRcle will remain accessible to cIRcle administrators and will be subject to preservation actions.

The licensing agreement between an author and cIRcle is a non-exclusive one. Authors are therefore free to submit copies of their work elsewhere. However, copies of their work will remain permanently in cIRcle.

Roles and Responsibilities

cIRcle Coordinator
The cIRcle Coordinator refers acquisition policy changes to the UBC Library administration for approval. The cIRcle Coordinator approves acquisition practices and procedures, monitors compliance with the policy, and supervises the acquisition of material.

cIRcle Library Assistant
The cIRcle Library Assistant supports the cIRcle Coordinator in monitoring compliance with the policy; assists in the acquisition of material; and instructs depositors in the understanding of this policy.

cIRcle Programmer/Analyst
The cIRcle Programmer/Analyst advises the cIRcle Coordinator on access and preservation implications of different types of digital objects and collections and assists with the preservation activities of cIRcle.

University Archivist
The University Archivist liaises with the Office of the University Counsel and Library administration regarding licensing issues related to UBC retrospective theses and dissertations in cIRcle. The University Archivist also ensures that appropriate permissions are in place with respect to University Archives materials that are added to cIRcle.

Faculty of Graduate Studies
The Faculty of Graduate Studies in consultation with the Office of the University Counsel is responsible for ensuring that all current UBC theses and dissertations submitted to cIRcle are appropriately licensed, i.e. that the text of the click through license agreement that students accept when submitting theses or dissertations online to cIRcle accurately reflects the students’ and the University’s rights and responsibilities regarding copyright and intellectual property.

Author
Authors ensure that submissions are complete and appropriately licensed, and that all rights have been granted and/or obtained.

cIRcle Community
Each community in cIRcle develops a policy within the framework of this Acquisition Policy to guide the submission of digital objects to cIRcle by its members.

Depositor
The Depositor ensures that submission(s) to cIRcle are in a format(s) accepted by cIRcle, with all required metadata attached.

Definitions

Author: The individual, group, or organization responsible for the content of a document submitted to cIRcle.

Bit Preservation: Ensuring that the bits comprising a digital object remain the same over time, preventing corruption, data loss and other damage.

cIRcle Community: Faculty, department, research unit or other identified group that creates or generates material added to cIRcle.

Depositor: An individual who submits material to cIRcle either on his/her own behalf or at the request of the author(s).

Digital Object: A discrete aggregation of one or more bitstreams, and related metadata and, if applicable, methods of performing operations on the object.

Digital Repository: A program or facility that acquires and stores digital objects for preservation and dissemination. In the case of a University Digital Repository, the material acquired and stored is produced by the University community and its partners.

Faculty of Graduate Studies: The Faculty responsible for the administration of graduate programs at the University of British Columbia.

File: A collection of structured data elements stored as a single entity.

File Format: The organization of data within digital objects, usually designed to facilitate the storage, retrieval, processing, presentation and/or transmission of the data by software.

Metadata: Data describing the identifying attributes of digital entities and their management through time.

Transfer Media: Methods or materials that facilitate the submission of media to cIRcle.

University of British Columbia (UBC) Community: Faculty, staff, students, visiting scholars and other individuals and groups who participate in the activities undertaken at or in connection with the University of British Columbia.

Withdrawal: Public access to digital objects is removed; however, objects and their accompanying metadata remain in cIRcle and will be subject to preservation action.

Associated Policies, Legislation and Standards

cIRcle Policies & Guidelines
Digital Preservation Policy
Intellectual Property Policy

Legislation

University Act (R.S.B.C., 1996, c. 468)
Canada Copyright Act (R.S., 1985, c. C-42)
Canadian Patent Act (R.S., 1985, c. P-4)
Canadian Trade-Marks Act (R.S., 1985, c. T-13)

Standards

Electronic Records as Documentary Evidence (CAN/CGSB-72.34-2005)
Microfilm and Electronic Images as Documentary Evidence (CAN/CGSB-72.11-93)

Associated Forms

cIRcle Online Submission Form (See: Uploading a New Submission to cIRcle)

Associated Procedures

Forthcoming.

Availability of Policy

This policy will be made available via the cIRcle Web site to all stakeholders including cIRcle employees, depositors, authors, rights holders and cIRcle patrons.

Policy Review

This policy is subject to approval by the UBC Library and will be reviewed every three years. As part of the review, all specific references to legislation, policies, or other documents should be updated to reflect the latest iteration of all materials.