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Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to provide direction on how Scholars Portal (SP) is to be populated with a diversity of digital content in a way that is coherent, forward-looking, and sustainable. This is in accordance with OCUL's Strategic Directions, one of which is
to "Provide and preserve a rich academic resource for teaching, learning, and research" for Ontario's university population. This policy also serves to state Scholars Portal's policy of acquisition in its role as a trusted digital repository for its users and stakeholders.
Our goal in aggregating content is twofold: long-term preservation and enhanced discovery.
The purpose of SP is to host, whenever possible and in perpetuity, a critical mass of works that has intellectual significance and long-term value, and deliver this in an environment that allows for ease of searching, browsing, retrieval, and reuse. Content decisions are based on recognized collection development principles such as: authority, originality, curricular and research relevance, timeliness, breadth or depth of coverage, and demand. It is understood that these principles apply to all subject or research areas, across all chronological periods and geographical regions, and that the materials acquired would be in English or French predominantly, but could comprise other, including indigenous, languages.
This policy is intended to capture what is important to include in SP and is not limited to what will be hosted in perpetuity.
--there is some disconnect between this and what was said earlier.
Background and Mandate
Scholars Portal is the cornerstone of consortial collection development strategy for Ontario universities. It provides a stable consortially-owned infrastructure for delivering digital collections to the Ontario university community based on a shared vision by Ontario universities for the provision of scholarly resources in a rapid, reliable, and cost-effective manner. Equally important is the stewardship and preservation of our owned materials for future generations of users, including: students, faculty, staff, and other patrons of OCUL member institutions; content producers; and members of the general public. In addition, relevant metadata is hosted alongside full-text content in order to expose users to a wider range of possibilities, thus offering the opportunity to enrich the researchers' environment. Underlying SP is the value proposition that a collaborative approach to resource delivery and preservation can yield powerful and innovative results by linking ideas, materials, documents, services, and researchers.
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