UDC Sandbox

Eligibility guidelines

Not all materials can be deposited in the Digital Conservancy or DRUM.  All deposits must meet the following eligibility requirements:

• Contributors must be U of M affiliates with a valid Internet ID.
• The Digital Conservancy must be granted permission (via our Deposit Agreement) to distribute and preserve all works placed in the repository. The author/original copyright owner retains copyright on all works.
• Deposits generally may not include coursework.  If you believe your coursework might belong in the Digital Conservancy, contact us at udc@umn.edu.
• Works must be free from any restrictions and be appropriate for open access by all users of the Digital Conservancy (read on for more information about these considerations).

Working with collaborators

Only one University-affiliated author is needed to deposit into the Digital Conservancy and DRUM. However, co-authors, supervisors, collaborators, research subjects, and advisors may have interests in your works.

• If your work was authored jointly with other collaborators, it is good practice to make sure that all interested parties agree on sharing publicly via the Digital Conservancy.
• If you are not the primary investigator or inventor, please ensure you have the permission of the primary investigator or inventor before uploading to the Digital Conservancy.
• If your work was produced under the supervision of someone else (e.g. UROP and Honors students) or if there are other interested parties (e.g. funders), you should consult with your supervisor or advisor or administrator before uploading.

Withdrawal Policy

Content submission to the University Digital Conservancy is permanent. Under certain circumstances an item in the Digital Conservancy may be removed from view (e.g. due to a violation of University Digital Conservancy deposit agreement).

If you have already published or are considering publishing your work in the future, be sure to consider the following:

• For previously published works, the following tools can assist with understanding and responding to publisher copyright agreements:
  • The Open Policy Finder (formerly SHERPA/RoMEO) provides summaries of permissions normally given to authors by academic and scholarly publishers to help you determine your works' copyright status.
  • Authors may also use the official U of M Author's Addendum [PDF] when negotiating with publishers to retain their copyrights when publishing.
  • Have you signed a copyright transfer agreement with a publisher? The University Open Access Policy (effective January 1, 2015) may apply and allow you to upload previously published content.
• If you are considering publishing your work in the future, be aware that some commercial publishers prefer not to publish works that are already available in full online. However, if you expect you'll make significant revisions or edits to the work before commercial publication (as with revising a dissertation) this is often less of a concern.

• The author/original copyright owner retains copyright on all deposited works.
• If information about patentable inventions is shared publicly before the inventor applies for a patent, the patent may be denied. The Office of Technology Commercialization can help you determine what you may need to do with regard to securing a patent.
• If your work includes partnership with external organizations, please ensure that the contents of your work may be shared publicly and does not infringe on the intellectual property rights of the organization (trademark, copyright, trade secret, etc.).

All works accepted into our repositories are accessible to anyone with an internet connection, worldwide. It is important to understand that some sensitive or private information should not be made publicly available. Before submitting, you are responsible for meeting all relevant legal and ethical obligations.

• You may need to obscure or anonymize private information about identifiable individuals, and remove data such as social security, health, or education records that are protected under specific privacy laws (U of M Data Security Policy) or through other non-disclosure agreements, before you upload your work to the Digital Conservancy.
• Indirect identifiers are pieces of information that, when used in combination, might identify and provide private information about individuals. Indirect identifiers should be minimized as much as possible.
• Some content may be culturally sensitive and not appropriate for sharing in a public setting.  For example, Indigenous cultural patrimony, knowledge, and data might only be appropriate to share within the community.
• In some cases, information may be so sensitive that public sharing will simply not be a good option for your work, even with the information obscured.

Logging in

1. Go to the University Digital Conservancy webpage

2. Click "Log In" in the upper right corner.

3. Click the "Log in with Shibboleth" button that appears in the upper right corner.  Follow the on-screen prompts to sign in using your UMN account information -- use the same information you'd use to sign into your email or MyU.  For help using Duo two-factor authentication, see IT@UMN's guide to Duo.

Creating a new account

Creating a new account is easy! Just follow the same login directions as above to create your account.

Choosing a file format

Deposits can be in any digital file format, but not all formats are created equal. Some formats are easier to share and preserve, and will receive additional preservation support after they are deposited. 

• we recommend using PDF whenever possible, such as for textual documents, presentation slides, and conference posters
• for spreadsheets, we recommend CSV

For more information on choosing a file format, see our preferred file format guidance or contact us using the email provided elsewhere on this page.

Naming your file

File names should be brief and descriptive, giving researchers a reminder of what they are looking at or downloading; many depositors choose to use a shortened version of the item's title.  Some items, like annual reports or newsletters, benefit from adding a date.  Remove any spaces and special characters.  Substitute underscores, dashes, or CamelCase to separate words.

File sizes

No single file submitted to the Digital Conservancy can exceed 5GB in size.  If your deposit is larger than 5 GB, contact us using the email provided elsewhere on this page.  Note that the larger the file, the longer it will take for you to upload and for future researchers to download.  If your file is quite large, consider compressing it to improve accessibility.

Making your files accessible

You can make your deposit easier to find and more accessible to a wide variety of audiences by ensuring your files meet accessibility guidelines.  Rich media (video and audio content) particularly benefit from having a textual transcript and/or caption files added to the deposit.  For more information on transcribing audio or captioning video, check out Accessible U.

Articles and Scholarly Works

• What to Deposit: Upload your work for open-access (i.e. pre-prints, post-prints, and published manuscripts, as well as supplementary information or some capstone projects).
• What to Expect: Staff will review and accept submissions, and will contact you to let you know if there is an existing collection that may better fit your submission.

Undergraduate Research Opportunities (UROP)

• What to Deposit: Add your UROP, URS, or other undergraduate research poster or paper. This does not include general coursework; see our eligibility guidelines for more information on coursework.
• What to Expect: Each campus has its own collection of UROP projects – be sure to choose the collection specific to your campus.  Staff will process submissions, usually within 1-2 business days of receipt, and provide you with a persistent URL for your project.

DRUM

• What to Deposit: Publish data that you’ve collected or produced while a student, researcher, or faculty member of the University of Minnesota.
• What to Expect: Your data will be reviewed by curators who will work with you to ensure that your data is discoverable and accessible.

Someplace else?

Some users may have the ability to upload to other locations.  If you need help, want to upload work to a collection not on this list, or would like to create a new collection, please contact us using the email provided elsewhere on this page.

The best way to for some users to deposit their items is by emailing the Digital Conservancy.  Complete the following steps to get help depositing your item:

1. Read and complete the online Deposit Agreement 
2. Email udc@umn.edu your file(s)
3. In your email, include the following information:

• Author name(s)
• Title of your deposit
• Date created (YYYY-MM-DD)
• Abstract of no more than 500 words (optional)
• Any subject keywords you want associated with your deposit
• The collection where your item should be uploaded.  If you're not sure, provide a quick description of your item, your campus, and any associated program, event, department, research group, etc. (e.g., UROP-Duluth Campus, Plan B thesis, Extension report, etc.)
• Faculty advisor name, if applicable
• Funding information, including sponsor name and grant number, if applicable

It's quick and easy to complete a self-deposit!

1. Go to the University Digital Conservancy webpage

2. Click "Log In" in the upper right corner.

3. Click the white plus (+) sign on the left-hand menu bar.

4. Click "New," and then "Item"

You can add files to your submission by dragging and dropping them anywhere in the window, or by clicking the browse link at the top of the screen.

Successfully uploaded files will display an "Upload successful" message box at the top of the page and will appear under the "Upload files" section of this form.

After uploading, a green confirmation box will appear in the upper right corner of the screen

You can see all the files you've uploaded at the bottom of the submission form.

Before you upload, check the following:

• Check that your file format is suitable for sharing and for preservation by checking our preferred file format guidance
• Name your file something useful -- it will be visible to everyone once your submission is complete
• If you have video or audio files, make sure they're accessible by adding transcripts and/or captions

If you're having trouble uploading your files, check the following:

• Check that your file is under 5GB in size.  If your file is over 5GB in size and can't be compressed or split into multiple parts, contact us using the email found elsewhere on this page.
• Check your internet connection's upload speeds.  Upload is often much slower than download; you can mitigate this by using a wired (ethernet) connection or using a faster network, such as eduroam on campus.

1. Add authors (recommended).  For individuals, add their surname or family name in the "Last name" field, and their given or personal name in the "First name" field.  Initials can be added to the first name field if desired and should include periods.  For institutional authors, put the entire name in the "Last name" field.  Multiple authors can be added by clicking the red "+ Add more" button below the name entry fields.

Examples:

• Last name: Smith      First name: Margaret H.
• Last name: University of Minnesota. Office for Public Engagement
• Last name: Johnson      First name: J.D.

2. Add a title (required).  Use the title of the item if it already has one.  If it doesn't have a title, create one that is descriptive and specific.  For series or other publications that will have the same name, consider adding a date, volume number, or other identifying information. 

Examples:

• Registrar's Advisory Committee Minutes: November 9, 2023
• ICI Staff Newsletter "FYI" October 2012
• Minnesota Loggers and Invasive Forst Plants: Attitudes, Behaviors, and Concerns

3. Add a date (required).  List the date the item was published or otherwise completed.  Only a year is required, but a month and day can be optionally added.

Examples:

• 1929
• 1985-Nov
• 2019-April-23

4. Tell us what kind of item you're submitting (required).  Select the item type that best matches the your submission from the list provided.  At least one type is required, but more than one type can be selected.

Tips:

• You can select more than one item type if necessary, but it is recommended to only choose one or two.
• More help on choosing the right type for your item is available on the "Tips and help" page of this Research Guide.

5. Add an abstract (optional).  If an abstract already exists for your item, copy it into the abstract box.  If your item doesn't have an abstract, you'll have space later to describe your item in detail.

Tips:

• Shorter abstracts tend to work best (less than 250 words), but abstracts of any length may be added
• Executive summaries or takeaway sections can also be used instead of an abstract
• Abstracts cannot contain any special characters, paragraph breaks, or other special formatting (bold, italic, bullet points, etc).

6. Add publisher information (optional).  If your submission was previously published, add the name of the publisher and their preferred citation for the item.

Tips:

• If your item is not yet published, this information can be added at a later date; just email your change to udc@umn.edu
• If the publisher does not provide a recommended citation, use whatever citation style is most commonly used in your field

7. Add a series/report number (optional).  If the item is a serial or part of a series, list the series name and the number for this particular item.

8. Add other identifiers (optional).  If your item has an existing identification (like a DOI or ISBN number), add it here.

Examples:

• DOI
• ISBN/ISSN
• URI

9.  Tell us what language your submission is in (recommended).  Use the drop-down menu to select the primary language of your item.

Examples:

• English (United States)
• Spanish
• (Other)

10. Add subject keywords (recommended).  Add keywords that describe the subjects or topics covered in your item.

Tips:

• Be sure to use the "Add more" button to separate your keywords
• If you regularly submit items with similar keywords, use the exact same keywords to link items.  Capitalization and plurals count (e.g., "Cheese," "cheese," and "cheeses" are all different keywords).

11. Add funding and sponsor information (optional).  Add any relevant sponsors and funding information, including any required statements, grant numbers, etc.

Tips:

• Some funders will provide you with a statement to use on your item; that same statement can be used in this field as well.
• Where applicable, include information like award numbers and dates.

12. Add a description (recommended). Add details about your submission including topics covered, including technical information like page count or audio/video duration.  Consider adding information about when and where an item was presented or disseminated, others who had a role in creating the item (i.e. faculty advisor on a UROP project or planning committee members for conference proceedings), or any other contextual information that will assist researchers in understanding and using the item.

Examples:

• Faculty Advisor: Dr. Kathryn Richard
• Runtime 37:24
• Article preprint; scheduled to be published in July 2025

Tip:

• Descriptions cannot contain any special characters, paragraph breaks, or other special formatting (bold, italic, bullet points, etc).

13. Sign the deposit agreement (required).  The deposit agreement is where creators declare that their submissions meet the requirements of the Digital Conservancy, and where they grant the Digital Conservancy permission to distribute and preserve all works placed in the repository.

14. Finalize your deposit (required).  Click the green "+Deposit" button to finalize your deposit and submit your materials to the Digital Conservancy.

15. The system will automatically generate the rest.  Thumbnail images and suggested citations are created by the system after your submission has been approved and published to the Digital Conservancy.  This process can take up to 24 hours after your submission has gone live.

You can view all of your submissions, including both completed and draft submissions, under your user profile.

1. Start by logging in.  Once logged in, click on the user icon in the upper right

2. Select "My Submissions" from the menu

3. To view unfinished or draft submissions, filter the list by Status, choosing "Workspace" from the drop-down.

It can be easy for errors to slip by when you submit an item to the UDC.  If you missed adding some description of your item, made a mistake in the metadata, or uploaded the wrong file, get in touch with the UDC staff by emailing us at udc@umn.edu.  Let us know about your item (item title and what collection you added it to) and what went wrong.  We evaluate each request on a case-by-case basis to balance having accurate, complete information with providing reliability and transparency for our users.