PORTAL Collection Policy

Selection of sites for the PORTAL Directory is based on the following general guidelines:

Resources

1. The resources at the site are within the general area of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
2. The resources are appropriate for research in higher education or similar scholarly contexts.
3. The resources can be:
   1. primary resources e.g. electronic texts, image archives, bibliographies;
   2. secondary guides to primary resources, e.g. collections of site pointers, lists of specialised archives;
   3. general reference data e.g. encyclopedias, library directories.

Sites

1. The site has substantive content, i.e. has a large resource or range of resources e.g. holdings of text or data, not just an individual student's bibliography.
2. The site has long-term content, i.e. has material of continuing interest e.g. excavation catalogues, not just a particular conference programme.
3. The site shows that it aims to meet normal research and scholarly practice in choosing and making public its materials.
4. The site clearly declares who is responsible for it.
5. The site content shows signs of being actively maintained.
6. The site has proper functionality i.e. active links, working tools etc.
7. The site is free at the point of use, i.e. there is no subscription charge, though users may be required to register.

The Academy reserves the right to remove a site reference at any time.