digitalcommons.unl.edu Archiving Department Records

Digital Commons is: an open-access online institutional repository administered by the UNL Libraries new as of June 2005

What can it contain? Research and scholarship Electronic publications Conferences and speeches Dissertations Teaching and course materials Department records

The “institutional repository” (IR) receives and archives one electronic copy preserves it permanently in the UNL Libraries collections, migrating the data as formats evolve provides and controls electronic access at a stable URL with a unl.edu address

Records retention guidelines Nebraska Records Management Act: State Guidelines/Rules: UN Central Administration Records Retention Guidelines UNL Business & Finance Record Retention Policy: UNL Accounting:

Department Records - YES Department review documents Committee reports Programs and requirements Colloquia, seminars, and conferences Grant proposals Newsletters and announcements Handbooks Schedules Official correspondence

Electronic Materials - YES Department website pages Individual faculty web pages (official) Course descriptions, syllabi, and some Blackboard materials

Department Records -- NO Personnel and HR records Student records Tenure materials Confidential or privileged information

Records in DigitalCommons would be housed permanently collected in one place accessible immediately, from anywhere, at any time visible to Internet search engines (such as Google) and the UNL web search

Site structure

For archiving department records A department names a community-- “Department Records” It contains the “series” that hold the documents This keeps your department records separate from your other types of content (faculty publications, research, scholarship, teaching materials, etc.)

Samples of “series” Programs and Degree Requirements Department Review Documents Official Correspondence Policies & Guidelines News and Announcements or: All Department Records

Each series needs an editor It can be anyone from the secretary to the chair. There can be multiple ones. One editor can add others. An editor can upload documents directly and post documents submitted by others.

Can there be a restricted-access series? Yes. Access can be controlled by “subscription” i.e., limited to a list of specific users. Should be declared when the “series” is set up. Series editors control the access list. Access is by user name ( address) and user password. Materials over a certain age can be made open-access.

How do we get to our records? In your browser (Explorer, Mozilla, etc.), from UNL front door (unl.edu): click “Libraries” >> click “Digital Commons” >> click “Research unit, center, or department” >> under your department’s name, click on your Department Records community all records series are shown, click any one to get list of records in that series Or, bookmark or link anywhere along the way.

How do you add records? Log in to digitalcommons.unl.edu with a user name ( address) and password. Locate the series you wish to deposit in. Click the “Submit” link and follow the instructions. An average submission takes less than 2 minutes. Depositors are asked for author, title, abstract, keywords, date, and comments. All except the title are optional.

What format are the records in? Default setting: records are stored as pdf files viewable by Adobe Reader. MS Word (.doc) and.rtf files are automatically converted to pdf pages; text is recapturable. Toggle setting: all file formats are accepted and preserved. Users can download the record, but may not be able to view it unless they have the appropriate software.

Are the records searchable? Author, title, comments, abstract, and keywords (if entered) are searchable for all records Full text is searchable for records in.pdf format Google™ indexes title, author, abstract, and first 100 kbytes of document

How are records arranged or displayed? a) In reverse chronological order (by year), then b) Alphabetical by author name

Who can download the records? For open-access series: anyone with an internet connection For restricted-access series: anyone on the subscriber list Authors get monthly tallies of hits and downloads.

If you archive electronically, does the Library still want a paper copy? Yes, if one exists. Contact Mary Ellen Ducey, University Archivist about She requests that you please eliminate duplicates and non-significant items before transferring records.

Costs There are no costs to the department or unit. Hardware, set-up, programming, maintenance, and support costs are paid by the UNL Libraries.

What do I need from you? The “go-ahead,” if you want to proceed Confirm list of “communities” [departments, centers, etc.] Titles for archived records series Names and addresses for series editors

Contact for Digital Commons Paul Royster Coordinator of Scholarly Communications UNL Libraries 306 Love Library site:

This PowerPoint™ presentation is archived on the Digital Commons under: Libraries >> Digital Commons - Information and Tools >> Digital Commons/Institutional Repository Information >> Archiving Department Records Its URL is: