Digital Commons Collection Policy

Goals of the Digital Commons Collection Policy

  • To showcase and provide open access to the intellectual and creative output of the University of Maine
  • To provide an open access platform for the institutional archives and publications of the University of Maine
  • To provide an open access platform for Fogler Library Special Collections materials
  • To provide a publishing platform for open access content from the University of Maine

Scope of the Digital Commons Collection

University of Maine faculty, student, and staff intellectual and creative output.

  • Published, peer-reviewed literature
  • Theses and dissertations
  • Creative works, e.g. music, art, literature, mixed media
  • Capstone papers
  • Unpublished scholarly and creative works, e.g. pre-prints, conference papers; research proposals and grant applications and reports; unpublished studies and interviews; technical reports
  • Journals and other serials; open access, or subscription with an access embargo of no more than three years
  • Conference proceedings
  • Classroom resources, e.g. open access textbooks, syllabi, lecture materials
  • Patents
  • Citations and abstracts only (without accompanying full text) for selected content types, e.g. theses and dissertations, monographs

University of Maine institutional archives and publications.

  • Student publications, e.g. yearbooks, newspaper
  • Organizational records, e.g. meeting minutes, department plans, administrative reports
  • Marketing publications
  • University of Maine press publications
  • Research center publications and archives

University of Maine Fogler Library Special Collections materials.

  • Manuscripts, e.g. diaries, letters, business records
  • Visual material, e.g. photo collections, postcards
  • Maine state and municipal reports

Criteria for Digitizing Special Collections Materials for Digital Commons

Materials are rare or unique and:

  • Support research and instruction at the University of Maine
  • Have potential for national or international research use
  • Have potential for widespread popular use within the state
  • Document areas in which we actively collect archival materials
  • Are “information dense”
  • Users would benefit significantly from the ability to engage in full text searching

Criteria for collecting Born Digital Materials in Digital Commons

Pertains to Maine and:

  • Continues documentation that the library has in analog format
  • Provides documentation in areas in which we actively collect archival materials
  • Contains information not easily accessible elsewhere and is of general interest within the state or would support public policy decision-making

Out of Scope for the Digital Commons

  • Citation-only entries, with limited exceptions noted above (theses and dissertations, monographs, subscription based serials
  • Full text materials that are unrelated to Maine or the University of Maine, e.g. a library-scanned public domain book or map (these files may be linked from URSUS catalog records)

Resonsibility for the Digital Commons

The library’s Digital Commons Committee is responsible for making decisions regarding services, standards, content and functionality.

Fogler Library Technical Services is responsible for DC metadata standards, copyright and permissions review, training of library staff and staff at campus units, and implementation and maintenance procedures.

Subject librarian liaisons are responsible for working with colleges, departments, and individual faculty who are contributing to the DC.

Digital Commons Collections Subcommittee is responsible for the DC collection policy, selection of library materials for the DC, and approval of campus content for the DC.

Colleges, departments, and other campus units are responsible for assigning members of their own staff to work with library staff to make their content available in the DC. They may wish to develop their own criteria for what is selected or digitized for their unit.

Individual faculty, staff, and students who wish to place their own content in the DC are responsible for working with their department or librarian liaison to do so.

Please also visit all collection development policy statements for the Raymond H. Fogler Library.