This policy governs the acquisition and collection of data by UCI Libraries.
Data sets will be evaluated for addition to the Libraries' collections based on the following criteria:
- There should be broad curricular and research interest in the data to be acquired. Preference will be given to data requests that are useful to the largest number of UCI faculty, staff, and students.
- Due to the way vendors provide data, sometimes data must be ordered as a customized set, specified to an individual researcher's needs. The Libraries cannot fund or otherwise support data purchases in these circumstances.
- Data must come from credible and reliable sources.
- Data must meet license standards to which the UCI Libraries adheres and meet the other standards used in the Libraries' determination to acquire content.
- Data must come with necessary documentation, such as the codebook and relevant metadata.
- Data must be organized, described and easily accessed via UC Library Search and other library-based discovery tools.
- Data must be in accessible format or interface and have no limiting user restrictions, such as limiting to a school or department.
- Data must be in a public-use version, containing no personal identifiers.
- The Libraries cannot license or take responsibility for datasets on behalf of individual users.
- The Libraries' are unable to act in the role of a "trusted data steward" or other capacity that would make the Libraries responsible for the actions of end users.
All requests for purchase should be directed to the appropriate subject librarian. All requests are considered on a case-by-case basis following the stipulations of this policy and resources available for new data acquisitions.