IRBU Policy
Introduction
IRBU is Brandon University’s Institutional Repository. Its mandate is to store, preserve, make visible and
openly available the scholarly, educational and institutional outputs of the University, as well as selected
archival collections.
IRBU is managed by the IRBU Working Group within the John E. Robbins Library and S.J. McKee Archives
at Brandon University in accordance with the following guidelines. The IRBU Working Group consists of
all BUFA members in the Library and Archives.
The IRBU Working Group will work in conjunction with relevant and interested stakeholders.
These guidelines and procedures are subject to internal review and modification, and are available on the
IRBU site.
IRBU upholds academic freedom as defined by the Brandon University Faculty Association Collective
Agreement, relevant Brandon University policies and the CAUT Policy Statement on Academic Freedom.

Content Guidelines
The type of content in the repository is extensive:
1. IRBU collects scholarly and creative materials, as well as important documents related to the
university's history, in digital format.
2. Archival collections deemed to have research value and/or interest to stakeholders
3. Full-text items are only added to IRBU with the permission of the author/creator, and where
permitted under Canadian copyright law.
4. IRBU is an open-access repository primarily providing access to complete (i.e. "full-text") digital works
but also includes abstracts and citations.
5. The repository includes all types of digital formats, except for datasets and software.
6. Eligible types of work include:
6.1. Faculty, staff and student output, including but not limited to: articles, conference
papers/presentations, lectures, reports, theses, performances, exhibits
6.2. Institutional output, including but not limited to: press releases, newsletters, publications,
annual reports, plans, calendars
6.3. Selected archival collections, including but not limited to: images, oral histories, historical
documents
6.4. Other types of materials will be considered on a case-by-case basis
7. Previously-published journal articles may include different versions, including:
7.1. working draft
7.2. pre-print: the author's manuscript as submitted to publisher for peer-review

7.3. post-print: the final peer-reviewed draft, also called the accepted version
7.4. published version: also called the final or official version which has been copy-edited, typeset,
and/or enhanced by the publisher in other ways
8. Works that are subject to a publisher's embargo period may be added to IRBU at any time, but they
will not be made publicly visible until the embargo period has ended.
9. Works published or created prior to an author's affiliation with BU may be retroactively deposited as
long as the authors are currently affiliated with BU and meet all submission requirements.
10. Works published or created by authors who are no longer affiliated with BU may be retroactively
deposited as long as the work was published or created by authors while affiliated with BU and meets
all other submission requirements.
11. The repository will also accept materials produced by non-university researchers that are produced
in conjunction with a BU-sponsored event, such as a conference or lecture series.
12. Brandon University reserves the right to deny materials not within the scope of the IRBU guidelines.
13. Brandon University reserves the right to remove a work from IRBU without prior notice for
administrative or legal reasons. Upon such an occurrence, the metadata record indicating prior
storage of the work in the repository may remain visible in perpetuity with a note indicating that the
record is archived.
Languages
IRBU supports publications and other outputs in a wide range of languages. However for the sake of
making each item easy to discover and use, it is advisable that any item not in English be submitted with
a separate English abstract and keywords.
File Types
IRBU strives to ensure that all of its materials are easy to use as well as preserved for future usage. As it
is easier to ensure the long term viability of certain file formats (i.e. open source) we ask contributors to
– wherever possible – convert their files to preferred formats before submitting them to the repository
as the institution will not always be able to convert atypical files created by software packages not in
general usage.
IRBU allows the upload of a variety of discrete file formats including audio, video and image files.
Additionally, you can stream media from third-party services like YouTube or Vimeo.
Although IRBU can store a variety of file types:
1. It is advisable that materials submitted to IRBU be in a supportable format. Open source formats are
the easiest to support. Other file types that are easier to support are highly utilized formats.
2. There are some restrictions in that the repository:
2.1. Will not accept data files as they are instead housed in Dataverse.
2.2. Has some size restrictions (a suggested 10 GB maximum).
3. Text files submitted to the repository are automatically converted to PDFs.

4. For the purposes of preservation, check the table below and upload highly recommended files if
possible.

Submission Guidelines
Eligible Contributors
1. Items may only be submitted by members of the Brandon University community.
2. BU community members include individuals or groups affiliated with a BU department, program,
research team, working group, collaborative project, or conference, such as:
2.1. Current and former BU faculty, researchers, and employees
2.2. BU faculties, departments, and schools
2.3. BU research institutes
2.4. Undergraduate and Graduate students with faculty sponsorship
3. Other University-affiliated individuals or entities will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
4. Selected archival collections will be submitted by the University Archivist.
Copyright
1. Canadian Copyright law applies to all submissions.
2. Contributors must accept the terms of the IRBU Submission Guidelines which require that:
2.1. the work is the original creation of the contributor(s)
2.2. the contributor owns the copyright in the work, or has the explicit, written permission of the
copyright holder to post the work in IRBU
2.3. if a work has been sponsored or supported by an agency or organization, the contributor attests
that they have the right to grant the rights contained in this licence and that they have fulfilled
any right of review or other obligations required by the agreement with such sponsor.
2.4. work that contains copyright-protected material created by someone else must have explicit,
written permission from that third-party to include the work in IRBU.
3. Submission of previously-published work is only allowed in accordance with publisher policy.
4. Items can be submitted at any time, but they will not be made publicly visible until any publisher's or
funder's embargo period has expired.
5. Depositing in IRBU does not affect the ownership of the copyright of the work, whether it is held by
the author(s) or publisher.
6. Any copyright violations are entirely the responsibility of the authors/depositors.
7. If the repository receives proof of copyright violation, the relevant item will be removed immediately.
Submission Requirements
1. Full-text items will only be added to IRBU with the permission of the author/creator.
2. Only authors/creators or their designate may submit their own work for inclusion.

3. Submitters must accept the terms of the IRBU Submission Guidelines by which they:
3.1. warrant that they own the copyright, or have permission from the copyright holder to include
their work in IRBU. Any restrictions on this copyright must be specified when the work is
submitted.
3.2. attest that the work does not contain any libelous or unlawful matter or violate anyone's right to
privacy
3.3. grant the BU Library a licence to make the work publicly and freely available on the internet in
perpetuity for anyone to view and copy for non-commercial use, as long as the work is not altered
and appropriate acknowledgement is given. This is the equivalent of a Creative Commons CC-BYNC-ND licence.
3.4. allow the Library to migrate the work to different formats, as needed, in order to ensure that it
remains publicly-accessible
4. Submitters who hold the copyright in their own work may choose to assign a broader Creative
Commons licence which permits additional types of re-use.
5. Submitters will provide bibliographic metadata for their works (i.e. title, description, keywords,
abstract, etc.) from which a record will be created.
6. Submitters will provide a digital copy of the version of the work that may be legally included in IRBU.
7. Student works must be approved by a sponsoring faculty member, department, or faculty/school,
prior to submission.
Submission Process
1. At the moment, there is one way to submit material to IRBU: Mediated Submission.
2. Mediated Submission:
2.1. Authors/creators or their designate submit works to IRBU through an online submission form.
2.2. The Cataloguing & Metadata Librarian creates a record for the item and then uploads the work
to IRBU on the author/creator’s behalf.
Moderation and Quality Control
1. Content must be scholarly, educational, or research-oriented, or of cultural or historical value to the
Brandon community. Works must be written in accordance with the tradition appropriate to the
discipline, including review and editorial intervention.
2. Works must not contain libelous or other unlawful matter, or violate anyone's right to privacy.
3. The validity and authenticity of the content of submissions is the sole responsibility of the submitter.
4. In the case of student works, the sponsoring faculty member or department or faculty/school is
responsible for verifying the quality of submissions.
5. The IRBU Working Group does not evaluate the content of submissions. Items are reviewed only for:
5.1. the eligibility of authors/depositors
5.2. relevance to the scope of the repository
5.3. valid layout and format
5.4. the exclusion of spam

Retention and Withdrawal Guidelines
These guidelines were created to provide guidance around the withdrawal and retention of digital
resources held in Brandon University’s institutional repository (IRBU). IRBU’s content is representative
of BU’s institutional outputs and archival collections and all additions to the repository must be in
accordance with IRBU’s Submission Guidelines. Its mandate to store, preserve and make openly
accessible institutional resources, comes with the responsibility of ensuring that:



Any and all content that complies with IRBU’s Submission Guidelines shall be retained, preserved
and stored indefinitely, and
Any content that is discovered to be in violation of the institution’s copyright and ethical
guidelines, or in violation of the law, shall be removed.

Retention Period
1. IRBU is meant to be a permanent record of scholarly, institutional and archival materials. Items will
be stored indefinitely.
2. Once an item is deposited in the repository a persistent URL will be generated.
Withdrawal Guidelines
1. Copyright holders or their designate may contact the IRBU Working Group to withdraw their own
copyrighted materials.
2. Items may not normally be withdrawn from the repository by the IRBU Working Group without the
consent of the copyright holder or their designate.
3. Acceptable reasons for withdrawal include, but are not limited to:
3.1. proven copyright violation or plagiarism
3.2. legal requirements and proven violations
3.3. falsified research
4. Decisions to withdraw materials shall not be made arbitrarily and shall rely on institutional copyright
and ethics guidelines.
5. Contributors whose material is being withdrawn shall be notified of such.
Withdrawn Items
1. Withdrawn items are not deleted, per se, but are removed from public view.
2. Withdrawn items' identifiers/URLs are retained indefinitely.
3. Original URLs will continue to point to ‘tombstone' citations, to avoid broken links and retain item
histories.
4. The metadata of withdrawn items will not be searchable.

Version Control
1. Changes to deposited items are not permitted, however an updated version may be submitted. There
will be links between the earlier and later versions, with the most recent version clearly identified.
2. Errata and corrigenda may be included with the original record, if required.
3. Items are allocated a checksum to facilitate the detection of alteration.

Preservation and Migration Guidelines
The IRBU Working Group will make every effort to preserve the repository content for both its evidentiary
value as well as current and future usage. These guidelines set forth the conditions for preservation and
migration of content in IRBU.
Preservation
1. The IRBU Working Group is committed to preserving and providing access to the works in IRBU. The
repository will work with Arca, LOCKSS and Archivematica to ensure continued readability and
accessibility by:
1.1. regularly backing up its files according to current best practice.
1.2. encouraging the use of standard and open content formats that meet community-accepted
digital preservation standards, are widely supported on a number of platforms, and that can be
preserved and migrated forward to new preservation formats over time.
1.3. migrating items to new file formats where necessary.
1.4. retaining the original bit stream for all items, in addition to any upgraded formats.
2. Some file formats may cease to be supported as a result of changes in technology and the private
sector, which are beyond the control of the IRBU Working Group. Files in these formats may no longer
function on current computer equipment and hence, become unusable. See Appendix A for current
list of File Formats.
Migration
The IRBU Working Group may determine that our current institutional repository platform no longer
meets the needs of the university community. Should this be the case, where possible, all content will be
migrated to whatever new platform is chosen, and the IRBU Working Group will make every effort to
ensure that all content will continue to be accessible.

Metadata Guidelines
1. The metadata schema used throughout by IRBU will principally be MODS (Metadata Object
Description Schema) Version 3.7 or higher.

2. Where necessary to facilitate the full description of a resource crosswalks from other metadata
schemas will be developed and implemented (e.g. VRA Core 4.0 to MODS).
3. Brandon University community-specific metadata elements will be used where no suitable MODS
element or element refinement exists.
4. The subject headings used throughout by IRBU will principally be Library of Congress.
5. Where necessary to facilitate accurate subject analysis, other controlled vocabularies may be used
(e.g. Getty vocabularies)
6. The authority files used throughout by IRBU will principally be Library of Congress.
7. Where necessary to facilitate the accurate identification of entities or works associated with a
resource, other authority files may be used (e.g. VIAF)
8. Permissions:
8.1. Anyone may access the metadata free of charge.
8.2. The metadata may be reused in any medium without prior permission for not-for-profit purposes
provided the OAI Identifier or a link to the original metadata record is given, and IRBU is
mentioned and cited as Brandon University Institutional Repository.
8.3. The metadata may not be reused in any medium for commercial purposes without formal
permission from the IRBU Working Group.
Answers to frequently-asked questions are available on IRBU’s FAQ page.

Policy passed by Library Council: August 2, 2018
Editorial revisions to content: January 31, 2020

With thanks to Kwantlen Polytechnic University, the University of Rhode Island Libraries, the University of
Connecticut Libraries and the University of Salford for borrowed text.
 http://kpu.arcabc.ca/guidelines
 https://www.salford.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/58722/USIRPolicy.pdf

Appendix A
IRBU File Formats
Content type

Preferred Sustainable Formats

Text

Plain text (ascii and UTF-8)
XML
PDF (*.pdf)

Image

TIFF (uncompressed)
JPEG2000 (lossless) (*.jp2)
PNG (*.png)

Audio

AIFF (PCM) (*.aif, *.aiff)
WAV (PCM) (*.wav)

Video

Motion JPEG 2000 (ISO/IEC 15444-4)??*.mj2)
AVI (uncompressed, motion JPEG) (*.avi)
QuickTime Movie (uncompressed, motion JPEG)
(*.mov)

Spreadsheets

Comma Separated Values (*.csv)
Delimited Text (*.txt)

Computer programs

Computer program source code, uncompiled (*.c,
*.c++, *.java, *.js, *.jsp, *.php, *.pl, etc.)

https://library.buffalo.edu/repository/deposit-your-work/policies/formats.html