UNCW Student Scholarship Submission and Collection Development Policy

Purpose

The UNCW Institutional Repository (IR), maintained by UNCW Library, serves as the university’s official platform for the preservation, storage, discovery, and access of student scholarship and creative works resulting from degree program requirements, such as master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, undergraduate Honors projects, and Capstone projects. This policy outlines the collection development policy and procedures for the intake and management of student scholarship.

Student Scholarship Collection Development Policy

Scope

Honors Projects, Theses, and Dissertations

UNCW Library is responsible for the preservation, storage, discovery, and access of master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, and undergraduate Honors projects. These forms of student scholarship must be submitted to the UNCW IR per requirements of the Graduate School and the Honors College. 

Other Student Scholarship

Additional types of UNCW student scholarship can be included in the IR if they meet these criteria:

  • Submissions must be coordinated at the academic program level. 
  • Submissions must be standalone projects completed as part of a degree program requirement, such as capstone projects.
  • Submitter must agree to the UNCW Institutional Repository license agreement (see bottom of this page).
    • Please note: Content in the IR may be indexed and discoverable by sites like Google, Google Scholar, and the library catalog.
  • Submissions must follow access options currently available in the platform:
    • Open access = Immediate unrestricted public online access
    • On-campus = Immediate restricted UNCW-only online access
    • Embargo = Temporarily embargoed for 3 years. During the embargo period, the metadata for the item will be discoverable in the Institutional Repository, but the item itself won’t be viewable. At the time of submission the student will choose what access option they would like for when the embargo has been lifted. After three years, the work will automatically move to the access option specified. A temporary embargo option can be granted at the discretion of the department.   

Access options can be changed post submission by contacting repository@uncw.edu

  • Individual student-initiated submissions are not accepted unless they are completed versions of publicly disseminated scholarship or creative works, such as article preprints, conference proceeding papers, conference presentations, or creative works. Class assignments are not accepted unless part of a culminating experience such as a capstone requirement.

UNCW Library Responsibilities

  • Preservation: The library agrees to preservation of accepted student scholarship, subject to available resources and evolving technology, in the UNCW Institutional Repository. While every effort will be made to ensure ongoing access, the library reserves the right to reevaluate preservation commitments based on file format, storage capacity, and sustainability.
  • Consultation Services: The library will offer consultation services to academic programs interested in developing workflows for collecting, reviewing, and disseminating student scholarship. This includes guidance on metadata standards, access options, and repository best practices. Contact repository@uncw.edu for consultation.
  • Review and Intake: The library will collaborate with programs to review submissions for completeness, metadata accuracy, and compliance with repository standards.
  • Maintain documentation for Program Liaisons: The library will maintain documentation containing information for academic program liaisons on how to work with the library on the collection, submission, and management of student scholarship in the library’s systems. This will also contain library and academic program contact information.   

The library reserves the right to the following:

  • Assess long-term preservation agreements based on use, storage requirements, and other considerations
  • Decline or remove submissions based on:
    • File format incompatibility
    • Storage limitations
    • Incomplete metadata
    • Non-compliance with repository policies and procedures
  • Loan a single print copy of a thesis or dissertation to a single user for personal, academic use at another institution through interlibrary loan, depending on embargo/restriction. Photocopying, digitizing, or duplicating the print copy in any way is not permitted, and the print copy will be destroyed upon its return.
  • Initiate discussions with contributing academic units and other campus support units on cost-sharing models as the repository grows. These discussions will be initiated as needed based on available resources and growth of storage needs.

Academic Program Responsibilities

UNCW academic programs, including the Graduate School and Honors College, submitting student scholarship to the IR agree to:

  • Primary Contact: Designate a liaison, such as the Graduate or Undergraduate Coordinator, to coordinate with the library and serve as the point of contact for submission and metadata questions from students.
  • Submission Management: 
    • Programs should consult with the library before they begin to collect or direct student submissions. 
    • Programs must agree to assist with the mediation of student submissions.
    • Submissions will be made through an online form. Documents will be submitted either by students themselves or via programs on behalf of their students.   
    • The primary contact is responsible for collecting all submission forms and materials from the students and sharing them with the library in bulk at the end of each semester.
  • Submission Requirements:
    • ADA Compliance: All submissions must conform to WCAG 2.1 Level AA web accessibility requirements prior to submission in order to comply with nondiscrimination provisions outlined in Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. 
  • Metadata Requirements: 
    • Provide standardized metadata for each submission, including: 
      • Student name
      • Title of work
      • Program/department
      • Degree level
      • Date of completion
      • Abstract
      • Keywords
      • Additional item description (if applicable)
      • Funding source (if applicable)
      • Faculty advisor (if applicable)
      • Access level (public or on campus-only)
      • Embargo period (if applicable)
  • Access and Display Options: 
    • Select from predefined access levels (see above)
      • Agree to display parameters as defined by the repository platform
      • Submitters must agree to UNCW Library IR license agreement 
      • This means that content in the IR will be indexed by common search indexes, such as Google and Google Scholar

      • The content in the IR will be discoverable in the library catalog

         

Created March 2026