Friday, May 16, 2008

DigitalCommons @ Texas Medical Center

Frequently Asked Questions

What is DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
DigitalCommons@ TMC( http://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu) is designed to store, index, and make accessible the Digitalmaterials of the institutions of the Texas Medical Center. Content, which is deposited directly by TMC faculty, researchers, and staff, may include published research, teaching materials, learning objects, theses and dissertations, student projects, conference papers, or other intellectual property in Digitalform. The content is then made available through a searchable web interface. DigitalCommons@ TMC uses the ProQuest DigitalCommons platform.
What is an institutional repository?
"A university-based institutional repository is a set of services that a university offers to the members of its community for the management and dissemination of Digitalmaterials created by the institution and its community members. It is most essentially an organizational commitment to the stewardship of these Digitalmaterials, including long-term preservation where appropriate, as well as organization and access or distribution." Clifford A. Lynch, "Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the DigitalAge" ARL, no. 226 (February 2003): 1-7.
What is "open access"?
When we say that DigitalCommons@ TMC is an "open access" repository, we mean that the items included can be viewed by anyone, without requiring users to pay to view them or to have passwords to access them. Some materials may be restricted to Texas Medical Center users, however, depending on the copyright status of the item.
Are there other institutional repositories?
Yes. Many institutions and universities have implemented institutional repositories using a variety of software systems and organizational schemes. A list of those using the ProQuest DigitalCommons platform is available at http://digitalcommons.library.tmc.edu. OAIster provides a searchable list of repositories from around the world.
Why did the HAM-TMC Library decide to create DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
DigitalCommons@ TMC was created to collect and disseminate scholarly material created at the Texas Medical Center. It is envisioned as a means to provide an additional access point for already published materials and to disseminate unpublished information such as learning objects and teaching materials.
What are the advantages for a scholar who includes his/her work in DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
Allowing your scholarly materials to be stored and distributed via DigitalCommons@ TMC will provide greater dissemination of your research than traditional journals or personal websites can. DigitalCommons@ TMC provides your work with a persistent web link that will remain constant and allow anyone worldwide access over the Internet. DigitalCommons@ TMC is also ideal for archiving and publishing multimedia formats that are not suitable for traditional publication methods. DigitalCommons@ TMC, while holding a non-exclusive license to allow your work to be accessed, allows you to retain copyright to your own intellectual property.
Who can deposit materials into DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
Any person or group within the Texas Medical Center can submit content as long they are part of an established community in DigitalCommons@ TMC. Materials created cooperatively with co-authors who are not affiliated with a Texas Medical Center institution are also accepted if at least one of the authors is affiliated with the TMC and the submitter owns the copyright to the material.
How can I add my scholarly content to DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
The scholarly content in DigitalCommons@ TMC is sponsored by a "community" that is responsible for creating the content guidelines for their section of the repository. A community can be comprised of an academic unit, department, research center or any other group of TMC-affiliated scholars. Once a community is established, the community members set up the workflow and support the submission processes in conjunction with HAM-TMC Library staff.
What are the rights and responsibilities of DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center communities and submitters?
The members of each DigitalCommons@ TMC community will be responsible for establishing the policies and procedures that will guide their use of the repository for storing and disseminating their scholarly output. DigitalCommons@ TMC communities will also be responsible for maintaining their collections and deciding who will perform the work involved.
What types of material formats are accepted?
DigitalCommons@ TMC can accept a wide variety of formats but can only guarantee to preserve certain formats. All data is made available as a PDF. To see a complete list of what formats are "known", "supported", and "unsupported" and what exactly those designations mean, please refer to DigitalCommons@ TMC format support page (forthcoming).
Can I remove items once they have been posted in DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
Under normal circumstances, no. Because DigitalCommons@ TMC is an archive, its primary goal is to preserve its contents indefinitely. DigitalCommons@ TMC will allow contributors to amend a previous admission with revisions, but will not remove the original item. DigitalCommons@ TMC is not meant for ephemeral materials and items likely to be revised.
Can I deposit materials that I created before I became affiliated with an institution in the Texas Medical Center? What happens to my materials in DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
You may submit items to DigitalCommons@ TMC that you created before you became affiliated with the TMC if you hold the copyright to the item. The work deposited in DigitalCommons@ TMC will be maintained permanently.
Do I need special software to upload materials?
The only tool necessary for contributing materials is a web browser.
Why do I need to attach "metadata" to the items I submit to DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
The metadata attached to each of the submissions to DigitalCommons@ TMC is similar to the information in a library's catalog record for a book. It is descriptive information about an item that allows it to be found via keyword searching (e.g.title of an item, author, subjects, etc.) Having descriptive metadata attached to an item allows it to be more easily accessed using search engines and metadata harvesters.
What are the advantages DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center provides researchers?
Researchers are allowed access to the scholarly work in DigitalCommons@ TMC without being required to pay for access. Faculty and researchers have a stable URL for their scholarly output and can refer to that URL rather than providing reprints or emailing documents. People around the world can access materials deposited in DigitalCommons@ TMC using Google and other search engines, making research more “findable”.
Who can view materials located in DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
DigitalCommons@ TMC is an open archive and its contents are therefore accessible free of charge to anyone on the World Wide Web. It is possible to restrict access to parts of DigitalCommons@ TMC, but we do not encourage that. The goal of DigitalCommons@ TMC is to allow any person with an Internet connection and web browser to view its contents.
How do I search for and access scholarly works deposited in DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
DigitalCommons@ TMC allows users to search for items or browse through collections of materials. DigitalCommons@ TMC includes a search feature that allows users to look for items by author, title, or other types of keywords. Items in DigitalCommons@ TMC are also indexed by Google and other search engines.
Who is responsible for managing DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center?
Administrative decisions regarding DigitalCommons@ TMC are currently made by the HAM-TMC Library working in conjunction with the individual institutions of the Texas Medical Center. A DigitalCommons@ TMC Steering Committee will eventually be created to guide the continuing development of this important TMC resource.
What are the rights and responsibilities of DigitalCommons@ The Texas Medical Center and its administrators?
The HAM-TMC Library, as the primary administrator of DigitalCommons@ TMC, reserves the right to remove material and conversely, the right to refuse to remove material.