The SFU Library established a Scholarly Digitization Fund in 2010/11 for the purpose of covering costs associated with digitizing scholarly materials. Digitization work includes scanning, creation of descriptive information, and other processing in preparation for deposit in Summit, the Library’s Institutional Repository, or another publicly accessible repository operated and maintained by the SFU Library.

Goal

The goal of the fund is to expose SFU research and scholarship to the University and broader community, leading to greater visibility and knowledge transfer of SFU scholarship and research output. These outcomes are in keeping with the mission of the University, the goals in the SFU Strategic Research Plan, and the principles in the Library’s Open Access Strategy.

The Library is committed to providing permanent, persistent access to these digitized resources. Examples of funded projects from 2011 include the Rodeo in Western Canada: Indigeneous - Settler Communities and the digitization of works by professor Allyson Clay. Funding for 2011 was awarded in June 2011. See Scholarly Digitization grant recipients for 2011 for a full listing and description of last year's digitization projects that were funded by the Scholarly Digitization Fund.

Amount

The SFU Library Scholarly Digitization Fund is a $50,000 annual fund, as funds are available.

Maximum amount per project

Up to $5,000 will be awarded per project in one budget year. Up to 10 projects a year will be funded.

Criteria for inclusion

1. Works authored by SFU affiliated faculty, staff and students, OR, material from the SFU Library’s collections, especially Special Collections. Works should be scholarly in nature, or related to the teaching, learning or research mission of SFU.
2. Works submitted should be "publication ready", as the Library does not provide editing services and proof reading services.
3. The author/owner or proposer must be willing and able to grant SFU the right to preserve and provide open access to the work, including all content therein (e.g. 3rd party images, charts, etc).The fund will not be used to seek or pay for required copyright permissions.
4. If the author/owner has received a SFU Library Scholarly Digitization grant previously, the funds must have been expended prior to the submission of a new application.

Selection process

Applicants are required to complete and submit an Application Form with a Project Description. Proposals will be accepted from SFU departments, Centres, Institutes, or other campus units, and also from individual faculty or staff.

A selection committee from the Library (using external consultation as needed) will select the successful applications, with preference being given to those proposals with matching contributions, either cash, grant-funded, or in-kind.

Successful applicants announced – June, 2012. 

1. A short summary of the project (less than 200 words)
2. A description of the material to be digitized, including an estimate of the number of items for each media type. For example, please describe the physical condition of the material to be digitized, and the formats of the material (e.g. text on paper, audio cassette tape, photographs, etc.).
3. Information on where the digitization will be done.  The proposed digitization can be either done in the Library’s digitization centre, or done elsewhere (such as SFU Document Solutions), and delivered to the Library for deposit in the Institutional Repository.
4. A short explanation of the significance and benefits of making the material available online.
5. A description of any copyright issues and explain how these issues have been/will be resolved. Please note that Scholarly Digitization Fund monies cannot be used to seek or pay for required copyright permissions.
6. An explanation of who will do the descriptive “cataloguing” of the materials that will be digitized. Please note that the Library will provide some assistance in getting this metadata work started.
7. A budget breakdown that documents
   1. Amount requested (maximum request is $5000).
   2. Approximate price of the scanning (it is advisable to get a rough quote from whomever you wish to do the scanning. For quotes on digitization to be done by the Library please contact Don Taylor at dstaylor@sfu.ca).
   3. Cost of hiring research assistants, students, etc to do work associated with collating materials, descriptive cataloguing of materials, etc.
   4. Any contributions from the applicant.

Please send proposals (using the Application Form with Project Description template) to Don Taylor, Assistant Head, Access Services, dstaylor@sfu.ca. Inquiries about the Fund and feasibility of projects are also welcome.

The University Librarian will have the final decision on funded projects.