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Preparing files for deposit

You must log onto "My KU ScholarWorks" before you can submit an item. Sign in by clicking on the "My KU ScholarWorks" link on the bottom left of the home page http://kuscholarworks.ku.edu.

Depositing files is KU ScholarWorks is very straightforward. It will help if you gather information about the file and think about file formats before you begin the submission process. The following steps will help you prepare.

1. Consider the file format.

Some file types are more likely to be usable over the years than others are. A list of supported file formats is maintained at https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/dspace/help/formats.jsp; check the list before you submit. In the case of text documents, we prefer PDF to a proprietary format like MS Word. If you need assistance creating a PDF file, helpful information is available here: http://www.lib.ku.edu/technology/PDF/. If you need a copy of Adobe Acrobat, please contact us.

2. Verify your copyright.

If the work has been published previously, check your copyright transfer form to be sure you have the right to post it. If it is a work of multiple authorship (whether published or not), ascertain that the other authors also approve contribution into KU ScholarWorks. More information on copyright and publication is available at /~scholar/docs/copyright.shtml.

3. Gather citation information.

If you indicate your work is previously published, you will be prompted to enter citation information as part of the submission process. You can use any citation format you wish, but be sure to include enough information that someone could locate the referenced version. For journal articles, include the journal title, volume and issue numbers, date, and paging. For book chapters, include authors' names, the book title, place of publication, publisher name, date, and pagination. Include a URL for items published on a Web site (such as a personal page or electronic journal).

4. Provide as much description of your work as possible.

Three reasons for describing your work:

  • To aid in the retrieval process
  • To act as a surrogate for the item (for instance, metadata harvesting for another system)
  • For use in later products for instance, a bibliography in a particular discipline)

5. Think about keywords.

Subjects and keywords will help users locate your work. Keywords can be pulled from the work itself, or they can be concepts that describe what the work is about. Subjects and keywords are especially important for works that are non-textual, such as images or datasets. It is a good idea to use a standard list of terms if one is available for your discipline. For example, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) developed the Computing Classification System for works submitted to the ACM Press.

6. Determine whether your submission is comprised of one or several items.

The atomic unit of content in KU ScholarWorks is an item. An item can be an article in a single file, or a single dataset consisting of several files, or the article accompanied by the supporting dataset. If you have questions about whether your materials should be one or several items, or even a collection, contact us at kuscholarworks@ku.edu.

7. Decide into which collection you will submit your work.

You may not have permission to submit to all collections; if you are not sure if you can submit to a collection, contact kuscholarworks@ku.edu or the organizers of the collection.

8. If you need assistance: