About the Digital Library Program

UCLA Library Criteria for Digital Projects

These criteria have been adopted by the UCLA Library as an aid in evaluating whether projects will be a good return on investment, and to help in establishing a strong rationale when requesting support from internal or external sources.

The criteria are designed to assess strengths and weaknesses and promote an analytical approach, but they do not have equal weight, and not all may be relevant to any given project.

• The project provides significant support for UCLA research and instruction.
• There are faculty and library advocates for the project.
• The project's intrinsic value will ensure long-term use by a significant audience within and/or beyond the UCLA community.
• The project can be completed with available funding, or has the potential to generate funding through grants, donors, or other external fund sources.
• The project will strengthen or enhance an existing CDL or UCLA resource, become part of an important virtual collection, or support a national initiative such as those sponsored by Association of Research Libraries and Digital Library Federation.
• UCLA has intellectual property rights to the content and can manage any required restrictions to access, or can realistically solve any rights issues.
• The project falls within traditional areas of library service or moves our services in a direction consonant with the Library's strategic directions.
• The project advances sustainable models for scholarly publishing.
• The project brings credit to UCLA library in a manner likely to generate further digital library projects and funding.
• The project has local or regional importance, and represents an effort only UCLA can initiate.
• The project is reasonable, practical, and achievable.
• The project saves money in the long term by eliminating the need to acquire resources, or by freeing up staff time.
• The project creates or sustains a partnership that the library will find valuable for future development.
• There is a compelling argument for digitizing material that is deteriorating.
• The project will expand our technical infrastructure or contribute to the development of national digital library standards.