Requesting a new top-level repository in Collections U of T

What is a repository?

In Collections U of T, the libraries or archives who care for the physical items and their digitized surrogates are called “repositories” (view current repositories). Within the Collections U of T database, each participating repository gets a top-level repository collection that acts as the top-level collection container for all of the repository’s digital objects. You must submit a request for a new top-level repository before you can add digital collections to Collections U of T.

Before requesting a Collections U of T repository…

Review the service parameters to make sure Collections U of T fits your needs.

How to request a Collections U of T repository…

From July 2024 to Summer 2025 the Collections U of T service will be operating in maintenance mode with reduced staff capacity. You can still submit a request for a new repository but the service will not be adding and onboarding new repositories until Fall 2025.

Email digitalinitiatives@library.utoronto.ca with the following information:

  • Title of the new top-level collection (usually the name of the library/archives)
  • Brief description for the collection (this will display publicly on the top-level collection page)
  • PID of collection (this will be included in the URL for your top-level collection and cannot be changed once it is published)
  • Approximate size (MB, GB, or TB) of images you are initially planning to ingest (we may need to increase storage, depending on your collection size)
  • Emails for staff who will require access to the Collections U of T administration back end

You must also confirm that the image collection(s) you are ingesting are:

  • intended for long-term, public, and perpetual acess
  • cleared for accessibility, privacy, and copyright considerations. You must follow Canadian Copyright law when uploading digital images into Collections U of T. If you do not hold the rights to publish the material online, permission must be obtained and shared with Collections U of T service staff.
  • not duplicates of existing items already in Collections U of T under another library/archives’ collection
  • not being stored in Collections U of T for preservation (Collections U of T is not a preservation repository)

Note: because of service capacity, approving your request, onboarding staff, and setting up your new collection may take 2-8 weeks to complete depending on the request.

To have your request for a new top-level collection in Collections U of T approved, please ensure:

  • You have time available to meet with a Collections U of T service representative to talk through policies and training.
  • You are able to commit to following Collections U of T policies and procedures, both existing policies and with an understanding that service policies may evolve. If you cannot follow Collections U of T policies and procedures, your collection may be taken offline.
  • Staff working on the collection are familiar with metadata best practices and can follow Collections U of T metadata guidelines. If you cannot follow Collections U of T metadata guidelines, your collection may be taken offline.
  • You have staffing capacity to support the care and maintenance of the digital collection over time. Note: Collections U of T service staff will not have capacity to maintain your collections or web content. If you do not maintain your content ingested into Collections U of T, it may be taken offline.
  • You commit to joining the Collections U of T Teams channel to follow service updates (Teams channel launched in March 2024).

After your repository is created you can ingest, create collection and item metadata, and add basic pages about your digital image collections.