Creating a work

Owned by David Walker
Last updated: Oct 07, 2021
4 min read

These instructions are for creating a single work. For creating batches of works, see Batch Operations.

Works are items in the repository. They have associated metadata and may contain one or more related files. For example, a single dissertation (PDF and metadata) can be a work. But a dataset containing multiple files (spreadsheets, images, text files and metadata) can also be a work. Works can also have relationships defined with other works.

A user must be logged in to create a work. There are two ways to add a new work:

  • On the homepage, click “Share Your Work”

  • From the Dashboard, click on “Works” in the left sidebar menu, then click “Add new work”

Now select the type of work:

  • Work type 1. Student research (Dissertation, Master’s thesis, graduate or undergraduate project)

  • Work type 2. Publication (Article, book, conference proceeding, etc.)

  • Work type 3. Research data (Dataset, model, software, etc.)

  • Work type 4. Open educational resource (Open textbook, course module, syllabus, etc.)

Any choice will take you to the Add New [Work] interface. 

Save Work: Right Sidebar Overview

The right sidebar, “Save Work,” is the first thing to note about the Add New [Work] interface. The top section, “Requirements,” serves as a checklist of what needs to be completed before a work can be saved. The next section, “Visibility,” defines the terms and scope of access. At the bottom is a checkbox acknowledging consent to the Deposit Agreement.

Requirements

In order to meet the requirements for deposit, a work must minimally have:

  • the required description fields completed for that item type

  • at least one related file uploaded

  • the deposit agreement checkbox checked

Once these requirements are completed, the depositor must click “Save” in order to deposit the work. Navigating away from the deposit screen before clicking save will result in the user having to redo the whole deposit process.

Visibility 

You can select one of five options for visibility: Public, Your Institution, Embargo, Lease, Private. If you are not seeing five visibility options, it is likely that your work is set to deposit to an administrative set with fewer visibility options than the default. Visibility only controls who can view or download your work – it does not control editorial permissions. Options for visibility can be restricted if the Admin Set has applied restrictions.

  • Public makes the work available to the general public. Related metadata is made available to be crawled by search engines for discovery.

  • Institution restricts access to users with login privileges, both for works and related metadata. Users will need to be logged into the repository to access the work.

  • Embargo lets you restrict access to private or institution until a specified date, when it will be opened either to institution or public.

  • Lease allows access to the work to be opened to public or institution for a limited amount of time, i.e., until a specified date, after which it will be restricted to institution or private.

Deposit agreement (required)

The depositor must check the deposit agreement checkbox in order to deposit.

Depositing as a proxy (optional)

Users can designate other users of the system to deposit on their behalf by visiting their dashboard. Once someone has been set as a proxy for another user, the sidebar will offer the option to deposit on behalf of yourself or the other user. If you deposit on behalf of another user, the ownership of the work will automatically be transferred to that user when the deposit completes. Proxies will retain editing privileges to works they deposit unless the owner revokes access.

Add New [Work] Interface: Main Area

The main area in the Add New [Work] interface is organized and navigated around the three top tabs:

  • Descriptions

  • Files

  • Relationships

Descriptions (required)

The “Descriptions” tab is for adding descriptive metadata. At a minimum, you must fill out all of the fields marked “required.” Clicking “Additional Fields” will show more metadata fields, all of which are optional. Each work type has specific metadata requirements for deposit, and these can differ between work types. Requests for additions, deletions, or substitutions of metadata fields should be submitted to the metadata group of the ScholarWorks implementation team.

Files (required)

The “Files” tab is for uploading files, either locally or from a cloud service (e.g. DropBox, Google Drive, Box.com, etc.). You can browse local files to upload, or drag and drop files from your desktop. If your repository is configured to interact with a cloud service, users can click “Browse cloud files” and securely connect to their own Dropbox. They can then browse cloud files to upload. Files can also be removed from the deposit in the “Files” tab. Repositories can be set up for metadata-only works, in this case files are not required. You can select individual files or folders with one or more files to upload simultaneously.

Relationships (optional)

The “Relationships” tab lets you add the work to an Administrative Set or a Collection. Administrative users can add a work to any Administrative Set or Collection in the repository. Regular users are only able to add works to Collections that they have created or collections for which they have been granted a depositor/manager role. The Administrative Set and Collections fields will be automatically populated with options in keeping with the user’s depositor access.