Digital Scholarship Framework and Policy

This framework defines how we deliver digital scholarship support to faculty, staff and students, and what we can mutually expect from our working relationship.

For a general sense of our work with digital scholars, please see the types of projects we work on often and our various levels of support.

Requesting project support

For all requests, we use a centralized intake process to gather information we need about the project, course, or initiative; the people or parties involved; their work completed thus far; funding and support gathered or needed; and plans or goals for the project.

See how request a consultation.

After receiving a request, our team coordinates behind the scenes and assigns appropriate staff to follow up. 

Developing your project plan 

During our first meeting, we’ll discuss the level of library involvement you might need, and can offer advice and workshops that can help you plan your projects.

If you’re looking for library involvement beyond a consultation, we require a signed memorandum of understanding (MOU), which ensures we have a shared understanding about what resources the library will provide and how we’ll all work together. We can work with you to develop or acquire the required documentation.

Maintaining your project

We encourage you to be thinking about how you’ll maintain your  digital project over the long term, including access, preservation, and funding support for your work.

The library’s digital repository services — including Deep Blue repositories for documents and data, our hosted Digital Collections, and the Fulcrum open-source publishing platform — might offer support for long-term access and preservation of your project in some form. We’ll connect you with representatives of these services early on to determine the extent to which your project outputs can be supported with them.

In some cases, your project may not be appropriate for deposit in our repositories, or we may not be able to provide the type of ongoing access and preservation you might envision or desire. We’ll provide recommendations in these instances for other steps you might take.

For more information on our repository services, see our Digital Preservation Policy and how you can share and preserve your work. Licensed digital collections are not represented.

Sunsetting your project

If the library is hosting your project, we reserve the right to determine when and how your project is eventually sunsetted. If you or another person designated as a project contact can’t be reached at that time, we’ll attempt to deposit your project in an appropriate format in a digital repository (in coordination with U-M digital repository services). We cannot guarantee long-term preservation. 

Data and assessment

Throughout the service process, we will periodically gather information through consultations, conversations, surveys, and throughout the course of our regular support of your project.

This information will be used by our digital scholarship service team to assess our services and to make revisions or improvements to policy, services, or documentation.

To make these assessments and to recommend to you available services and support, we’ll internally retain your name, email, affiliation, and your request (such as project type and needs). We do not share this information with third parties, and strictly adhere to university and library policy on ethical best practices.

For information on the library’s privacy policies more broadly, please see the library privacy statement.