About this Repository
The collections on this site are the resulting projects of students of the School of Information at the University of British Columbia (iSchool at UBC) working in collaboration with local libraries, archives, museums, galleries, private collectors and other community partners. These projects are developed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the class ARST 556P / LIBR 582: Digital Image and Text Collections. The administrator of this space is the instructor of the course: Richard Arias-Hernandez, which can be contacted for relevant inquiries at richard.arias@ubc.ca
About Arca
Arca is a collaborative initiative that puts the development and implementation of a digital repository within reach for every organisation, at a reasonable cost, and in a supported environment.
Arca exists to create opportunities to share digital scholarship and heritage, and to build communities in British Columbia and beyond; for access, discovery, and knowledge creation, with cost-effective, shared infrastructure.
Through centralised coordination and a collaborative approach, Arca:
- Ensures organisations can offer a high-quality, responsive digital repository service at an affordable cost.
- Maximises system efficiencies through centralised licensing, expertise, best practices, and support.
- Builds a community of practice that extends expertise, nurtures innovation and cultivates collaboration.
- Facilitates search across digital assets from all participating organisations.
- Seeks opportunities to strengthen and build new partnerships.
Arca is built on Islandora, a Canadian-developed open-source platform currently in use at over 100 public and private institutions worldwide. This shared platform provides organisations with open-access repositories for research, theses, and any other digital assets they wish to make available to the wider community.
Arca is made possible by a partnership between the BC Electronic Library Network (BC ELN) and Charlottetown, PEI-based software firm discoverygarden. Implementation was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.
For more information about Arca, including project timelines, announcements, annual reports, etc. please visit the BC ELN website.
Questions? Contact the Arca Administrative Centre.