Digital Project Collaboration Policy
In support of the University of Illinois Chicago Library’s mission and vision, we provide equal access to information and resources to discover, use, and create knowledge.
According to the UIC Library strategic plan, we are committed “to working with each other, campus, community, and other partners, understanding that good relationships create better ideas and stronger outcomes.” As part of this value, the University Library is dedicated to digitally preserving collection materials in all formats and making them available as widely as possible. Policies, established standards, and practices help inform and design collaborative projects.
The UIC Library is committed to campus-wide collaborations that includes digitization projects and grants. Any proposed digital and/or grant project may involve several different library departments.
Getting started: Things to know Heading link
- Administratively, the Dean of Libraries must approve any grants or projects that obligate any library resources or personnel prior to application/proposal submission at least twenty workdays before submitting to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research or other deadlines. Approval is not guaranteed.
- If you are a librarian or staff member at the UIC library, contact the appropriate department to initiate a conversation.
- If you work outside of the library or are not affiliated with UIC, contact the library department holding the materials or offering the service you are interested in utilizing first. Representatives from various departments may attend meetings to determine the feasibility of the proposed plan and implementation of the project.
- The following Library departments are most often engaged in digital projects:
- Digital Scholarship
- Digital Programs & Services
- Special Collections & University Archives
Questions we need answered for any project Heading link
- Are products of grants/digital projects automatically given to the University Library or Special Collections & University Archives?
- Is this grant or collaboration product within the collecting policy or records schedule of the university archives? If not, is this content somehow an exception?
- Would the grant product fit into the INDIGO Institutional Repository?
- Please email indigo@uic.edu prior to writing the use of INDIGO into your grant data management plan to confirm there will be enough space available for your data and if INDIGO is appropriate.
- For more information, please visit What to know about using INDIGO for sharing Grant data.
Digital Projects Ideas Heading link
To guide you through the procedure of planning a digital project, you will need to provide answers to the following questions:
- Who exactly will use my digital project?
UIC students? K-12 students? Researchers? The public at large? How will I make sure this project is used? - What value will my project have for my anticipated users?
Does this project give people access to something significant and unique? Does it give them access to content in a new way? - Who owns the copyright for the materials in my project?
Was it made before 1925, and is therefore in the public domain? Can I identify and receive permission from the copyright owners for all these materials? - Who owns the physical materials to be used in my project?
Are they in the UIC’s Special Collections & University Archives, in another library department or a non-UIC repository? If not affiliated with UIC, have I contacted them to secure use of these materials? - How will my project be funded, short-term and long-term?
Have I identified sources of funding for the cost of digitizing materials, the cost of saving them on a server, the cost of the personnel needed to complete the project, and the cost of managing the product once the project is completed? - What is the timeline for the project?
- What software or web publishing platform will I use to make this project accessible in an interactive or user-friendly way?
What example projects would I like to model my project after: what are they using to make their project accessible? - What metadata schema will I use to make my project findable with search tools?
Metadata schemas are essential for “tagging” a digital project. Am I prepared to create metadata for my digital objects to make my project findable? Have I talked to a library faculty member about metadata schema they use?
Ready to proceed? Heading link
Complete this form to propose a collaborative digital or grant project with the UIC Library.
legal Heading link
Approved 10/2022