Preservation

Since 1967, OCUL members have been committed to leveraging resources for the joint purchase of academic resources and to ensuring responsible stewardship of our collections. Our shared Scholars Portal repository of digital resources has grown to more than 50 million e-journal articles, 600,000 e-books, a large collection of social science and health data sets, and geo-referenced data and geospatial files.

OCUL is committed to preserve Ontario academic collections, both print and digital.

Preservation Initiatives

 

Digital resources

Three key mandates guide OCUL's approach to digital preservation:

  • Materials must remain whole and integral
  • Materials must remain authentic to the original text
  • Materials must remain accessible for research use

Trusted Digital Repository

The Scholars Portal TDR project is the first step in the development of a robust long-term preservation program for all Scholars Portal collections. Working from requirements set out in the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) reference model and the Trustworthy Repositories Audit & Certification (TRAC) checklist, Scholars Portal seeks to create a digital preservation system that can ensure the long-term integrity and usability of the objects in its care.  

As of February 2013, Scholars Portal’s e-journal platform has been certified by the  Center for Research Libraries (CRL) as a Trustworthy Digital Repository.

Learn More about TDR
 

Print resources

Thunder Bay Agreement

Preservation of a last copy, regardless of format, is an important general principle for OCUL and immediate action is required to ensure long-term retention. The OCUL Thunder Bay Agreement  embodies a commitment to coordinated retention and collaborative storage of print materials.  

Read the agreement