LibGuides: Borealis: Collection Guidelines

U of L Borealis Collection Guidelines

University of Lethbridge Borealis Collection Guidelines

Purpose

To provide clear guidelines about the purpose of the University of Lethbridge’s institutional collection in Borealis, and to clearly articulate the types of material that are in scope for this repository. 

Definitions

Borealis, the Canadian Dataverse Repository: The instance of the Dataverse platform as a shared service provided in partnership with Canadian regional academic library consortia, institutions, research organizations, and the Digital Research Alliance of Canada, with technical infrastructure hosted by Scholars Portal and the University of Toronto Libraries. 

Collection: A collection is a container for Datasets (research data, code, documentation, and metadata) and other sub-collections, which can be setup for individual researchers, departments, journals and organizations (from the Dataverse Project with adaptation). 

Dataset: Any organized collection of data in a computational format, defined by a theme or category that reflects what is being measured/observed/monitored. The presentation of the data in the application is enabled through metadata (from CASRRAI’s glossary). See the Borealis User Guide for more information. 

Deaccession: To remove access to a Dataset or files, or to suppress, move, or delete the metadata, Dataset, or files. 

Depositor: A user who submits a Dataset to a collection in Borealis. In most cases, the Depositor will be either an author of the submitted Dataset, a researcher collaborating with the author(s), or a librarian.  

Institutional collection: Also known as a Dataverse collection. One or more collections in Borealis that are under the administration of a single university, academic library, or research organization. Each university in Borealis has an Institutional Collection that may contain other sub-collections and Datasets. 

Criteria for Submission

The University of Lethbridge Library’s institutional collection in Borealis accepts research data and Datasets that have been created by researchers and research groups at the University. Research data are data that are used as primary sources to support scholarly activity or to validate research findings. The Library does not attempt to judge the scholarly quality of deposited Datasets, but trusts the judgment and research expertise of those who created and deposited the Dataset. Thus, a determination of the research quality is at the discretion of, and also the responsibility of, the long-term contact person, as named in the descriptive metadata. 

The university’s institutional collection in Borealis accepts finalized Datasets that are ready for publication and sharing. The Borealis Repository is not an appropriate venue for storing working data. In order to facilitate interpretation and reuse of the Data Files, Depositors must deposit a ReadMe file along with Data Files, and Descriptive Metadata. 

All Datasets held in University of Lethbridge Borealis are subject to the Borealis Terms of Use.

Rights & Permissions

Datasets may be deposited openly, restricted, or embargoed:

An open Dataset is a Dataset that may be downloaded and reused in accordance with the license indicated by the depositor.

A restricted Dataset is a Dataset that cannot be downloaded unless permission has been granted by the depositor or U of L Library.

An embargoed Dataset is a Dataset that is restricted for download for a period of time with a set expiration date shown in the description of the Dataset. Once the embargo has expired, the Dataset will be made openly available for download.

Researchers are encouraged to deposit their data openly where possible, which means that anyone may download and reuse all or part of a Dataset in accordance with the license indicated by the Depositor. Depositors can define an embargo period of up to two years, and individual collections within Borealis may have their own terms for maximum embargo period. 

The Depositor must have or be able to furnish on demand the rights or permissions to share any part of a Dataset obtained from a third party. It is the responsibility of the Depositor to have the necessary rights or permissions to share any content not generated by the Depositor. 

In all cases, Datasets must comply with Borealis Terms of Use. By publishing content via the service, you make the following representations and warranties:

Your content does not infringe upon the copyrights or other intellectual property rights, including, but not limited to, patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright, right of publicity, or other rights of any other third party.

Your content does not violate any laws, including, but not limited to, laws related to defamation and obscenity.

You will promptly notify the service provider and U of L Library of any confidentiality, privacy or data protection, licensing, or intellectual issues regarding your content.

Your content does not contain viruses or any other computer code, files, or programs designed or intended to disrupt, damage, limit, or interfere with the proper function of any software, hardware, or telecommunication equipment or to damage or obtain unauthorized access to any system, data, and other information.

If your content is subject to the review of a Research Ethics Board (REB), they have given approval for your content to be uploaded and publicly distributed.

Your content contains proper attribution and citation in adherence with academic integrity and disciplinary norms.

All copyrights remain with the original authors of the Datasets and documentation. 

Sensitive & Personal Identifiable Information

The University’s institutional collection in Borealis is primarily a platform for publishing and sharing Datasets. It is not appropriate for the storage of highly sensitive or confidential data. Datasets, even ones that are embargoed or have restricted access must not contain information that could directly or indirectly identify a subject, except where the release of such identifying information has no potential for constituting an unwarranted invasion of privacy and/or breach of confidentiality. 

The Depositor may choose to embargo a Dataset, but the University’s institutional collection in Borealis is primarily a sharing platform, and data that is stored here should be made available for public use within two years. 

More information about the conditions surrounding sensitive and personal identifiable information can be found in the Borealis Terms of Use.

Very Large Datasets

Due to file limitation sizes in Borealis, some files and Datasets will be too large for deposit into the university’s institutional collection. The Scholarly Communication Librarian will consider large Datasets on a case-by-case basis as possible candidates for the national Federated Research Data Repository (FRDR). 

Versioning Datasets

Researchers may submit updated versions of their research Datasets when necessary to correct errors in the original data or to add new data to an existing Dataset. The Scholarly Communication Librarian will provide guidance to help a researcher determine whether changes are sufficiently substantial to merit a new submission rather than an updating a version of an existing Dataset.

Managing Borealis Collections

Large research groups that expect to submit many Datasets may request a dedicated collection, and these will be granted at the discretion of the University Library. 

University Library policies and the Borealis Terms of Use apply to all collections that have been established under our membership agreement. This includes all research data collections that are listed on the University’s institutional collection page here: https://borealisdata.ca/dataverse/lethbridge/

Stewardship

Our objective remains the continued access and preservation of deposited Datasets for the longer term. To support this objective, the University Library reserves the right to make multiple copies for the purposes of security, back up, and preservation. University of Lethbridge Library may migrate files to any medium, format, or platform for the purposes of preservation, but will not change the content or meaning of the work. 

Please note, data deposited to U of L Borealis is not held at the University of Lethbridge. All files deposited to U of L Borealis are held in cloud storage powered by the Ontario Library Research Cloud (OLRC), in Ontario.

Deaccession of Datasets

Datasets deposited into the university’s institutional collection in Borealis will be retained for a minimum of ten years. After this period, Datasets will be subject to regular review and the University Library reserves the right to remove Datasets due to obsolescence, lack of use, duplication elsewhere, or for any other reason that the University Libraries deem relevant. 