Carleton College
Carleton Student Work Archive
(Digital Archiving of Comps & Honors Papers)
Carleton Student Work Archive
https://comps.carleton.edu/
FAQ for Faculty
(This FAQ will be updated periodically. Last updated 10-26-2010)
What & Why
When & by whom was the decision made to begin archiving Carleton student work?
 The digital archiving of comps, via the Carleton Student Work Archive, is an initiative of the
Dean of the College office.
 In 2008-09, the Library Committee brought a policy proposal regarding archiving student work
to the faculty and on Jan 25, 2009 the faculty approved this policy unanimously.
 In 2008-09 and 2009-10, 436 student works were archived from all academic departments.
Why is the College doing this?
 To provide more consistent archiving of the results of significant student work at Carleton.
 To capture data to document educational outcomes and provide additional information for
assessment.
 To relieve departments of the need to manage their own archives of student work.
What kinds of student works are archived?
 The three categories of interest initially are:
o Comps, in all their multi-various forms
o Honors papers
o Prize-winning works, such as those that are cited at Honors Convocation
Can student presentations of comps and multi-media materials be archived?
 Yes, as stated in the policy, the College will archive audio or video presentations of comps,
“when they constitute the primary product of comps research.”
 Each department will determine when this is the case and advise their students accordingly.
Where do the digital versions of comps reside?
 Most comps, honors papers and prize-winning works are stored as PDF files on a College server
in ITS, using the CONTENTdm digital content management software.
 Non-textual & multi-media works (e.g. videos, posters, presentations, etc.) may be stored
offline on digital media, according to archival standards, in the College Archives.
Who owns the intellectual property rights to student work and how is that registered?
 Each student owns the copyright to his/her own work. This right is legally inherent and need
not be registered in any way.
Will putting work in this archive jeopardize a student’s ability to publish some version of his/her work in
the future?
 No. The archive is not a form of publishing. It is no different from depositing a paper copy of
student work in the Library or College Archives.
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Access
Who has access to the archived comps, honors papers and prize-winning works?
 Faculty or their designees (e.g. Departmental Assistants) have access via
https://comps.carleton.edu/ using their Carleton username and password.
 Institutional Research & Assessment staff will also have access.
 Certain Library and ITS staff will have access for the purpose of archiving, cataloging,
Who can provide students with a copy of comps or honors papers?
 Faculty or their designees may make printed copies of student work held in the dark archive for
use by Carleton students or staff for educational purposes.
How can I be sure that our departmental assistant has access to the Carleton Student Work Archive?
 Send an email to Carol Eyler (ceyler) asking that your departmental assistant be added to the
list of authorized users.
What is the procedure for a Carleton faculty member to provide a current student with a copy of a
particular comps, honors paper or prize-winning work?
 Faculty or their designees may make printed copies of student work held in the dark archive for
use by Carleton students or staff for educational purposes.
 Those student works that cannot be printed -- e.g. video or audio files -- will be made accessible
to students for viewing/listening in the College Archives at faculty request. To make such a
request, the faculty member should send an email to the College Archivist listing which nontextual student works can be made accessible to which student/s and for how long.
Can the archived versions of comps and honors papers be put on Reserves for course use?
 A printed copy of any archived student work can be put on Reserve. Contact Vonnie Otte,
Reserves Coordinator, x4272
If Carleton’s policy on archiving student work digitally should change in the future to permit access from
outside the College (e.g. via the web), will the 2008/09 & forward works be made accessible
automatically?
 Works archived under the current policy will not be made available by the College to others
beyond the Carleton faculty or their designees, Institutional Research & Assessment staff, and
managers of the archive.
 Should the policy be changed in the future to broaden access, students whose work is already
archived under the provisions of this policy will be contacted for permission to provide broader
access to their work.
In my department, occasionally there is a student work that is passed but that definitely should not
be available as examples for any future work. Is there a way we can archive these works, but make sure
that they are not used as examples?
 Yes. This was a concern raised by several departments. The Library Committee suggested the
following process to Department Chairs and it was discussed as Appendix A to the policy on Feb
25, 2010.
 All faculty will be asked at the end of each academic year via email to identify any comps,
honors papers, or prize-winning works they have advised that they wish to be made
inaccessible to everyone on campus.
 Any student work thus identified by a faculty adviser will be "flagged" and housed in a
“dark-dark archive.”
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
These flagged comps will only be accessible by the managers of the comps archive, and by
Institutional Research & Assessment staff for educational research purposes.
Discovery
Will the metadata (cataloging) records be searchable so students and others can find out that archived
comps exist?
 Yes, archived student work will eventually be cataloged in Bridge based on the information
provided by the student on the submission form. The works will be searchable by author/s,
title, department/major, adviser/s, and keywords.
 The record will indicate that potential users need to contact a Carleton faculty member or
his/her designee to obtain a copy of a particular work.
Why are you listing student work in Bridge, when it is not accessible without faculty permission? How
was this decided?
 Drafts of the policy were reviewed by many faculty, staff and students over a period of 18
months.
 Students on the Library Committee and especially those on the Education & Curriculum
Committee (ECC) were particularly insistent that the records be made accessible to all and that
sentiment was included in the ECC's statement of endorsement of the policy.
 The college’s Digital Archiving Group (DAG) determined that Bridge was the most easilyaccessible place to list student work.
Student Work Prior to 2008/09
My department has digital copies of comps and honors papers from previous years. Does the library
want those for archiving purposes?
 Right now, the focus is on acquiring & archiving digital versions of current student work.
 In the future, we will decide whether to archive earlier work. In the meantime, please retain
your historical (pre-2008/09) digital files of comps and honors papers.
Does this mean my department no longer needs to retain print or digital copies of comps and honors
papers?
 Each department should decide for itself whether or not to retain copies of student work in the
department, and if so, in what format/s.
Our department sends paper copies of our comps and/or honors papers to the College Archives and/or to
the Library. Should we continue to do this?
 If your department has sent student work to the Library and/or College Archives in the past,
you may continue to do so. However, you are not required to.
My department has paper copies of comps from previous years. Does the Library want those for its
collection?
 Because our space is very limited, we cannot accept additional paper copies of student work.
Our focus going forward is on archiving digital versions.
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