SCDL Collection Policy
Download Collection Policy
Mission
The South Carolina Digital Library (SCDL) is a collaborative effort that includes South Carolina’s schools, libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. SCDL’s mission is to encourage our collaborators to create, maintain, and promote digital collections that represent South Carolina's historical and cultural resources while following state-level guidelines that are based on national standards and best practices. SCDL intends to be the model for other institutions digitizing materials in the state, and will strive to provide the knowledge, resources, and capacity necessary for those institutions to complete their digital projects. SCDL also seeks to enhance the overall education and scholarship of South Carolina's citizens by coordinating free and unlicensed access to these digital collections through a central web presence.
Audience
The intended audience of SCDL is the collection of the citizens of South Carolina, students, lifelong learners, scholars, researchers, state and federal government, the business community, and hobbyists.
Participation
Collections from non-profit cultural heritage organizations including libraries, historical societies, museums, archives and educational institutions will be included in SCDL based on the criteria outlined below. Other non-profit organizations with unique digital materials relating to South Carolina history and culture may submit collections for consideration; the addition of these items will be at the discretion of the SCDL Advisory Committee.
The content of proposed collections and materials should reflect aspects of the culture, history, natural history, character, and substantial contributions of the state of South Carolina and its residents, and should be of interest to South Carolina educators and learners, in accordance with the mission of the SCDL.
Collections and materials selected will reflect South Carolina’s history from pre-colonial times to the present, its varied population, urban and rural experiences, and a divergence of points of view.
Either collections and/or materials should be in the public domain or permission to digitize the collection must have been granted.
Collections and materials should support the educational, recreational, and information needs of the people of South Carolina.
Collections should not be so institution specific that they have limited appeal to those outside the institution.
Metadata must conform to standards established by the SCDL Metadata Working Group.
The material should be unique and not available through other SCDL participants or in other collections on the Internet.
Materials must conform to current technical standards for digitization as established by the SCDL Collection Development Working Group.
Ownership
SCDL does not claim ownership of materials (i.e. metadata and images) in the portal, but operates under the principal of "shared access, local ownership" with ownership remaining with the originating institution. Institutions may request that their materials be removed from the portal or website. Owners of collections included in the portal agree to defend and hold SCDL harmless from any claims or damages which may result from users who download or otherwise use data from the portal or website in violation of an owner’s rights under state or federal law.
Accuracy of Data
Responsibility for accuracy of data, facts, and information rests with the institution distributing the digital content. SCDL does not warrant any information on the SCDL web site. SCDL recommends all sites have an online means of collecting information regarding the content accuracy and a policy for site review and revision.
Removal of Material from South Carolina Digital Library
A link to a partner web site may be removed from the SCDL for one or more of the following:
- Web site is not consistently available and/or reliable
- Presentation of inaccurate data, facts, or information
- Demonstrated violation of copyright laws
- Web site or content is no longer available to the public at no cost or free of license
