Born Digital FAQ

Q. Do I have to own a copy of the Born Digital ISBN in order to make a copy of it?

A. Yes, your library needs to own a copy of the material in order to be able to create an extract.

Q. Do I have to use Born Digital material if it is available?

A. No, you are not obliged to use the Born Digital material for a request if you don't want to. As you progress through the digitisation request, you will still have the option to add your own PDF scan or order from EHESS.

Q. My Born Digital extract is getting stuck on "generating". What do I do?

A. The time taken to generate a request is all down to the size of the extract and the place your requests is sitting in the queue (if 10 other users are making requests at the same time, it will take a little longer). Please click on the green "refresh" button at the top of the Source Content panel to push your request through. Unlike the full Born Digital original, the PDF extract will be stored locally in the DCS, as is the case with documents uploaded by HEIs currently.

Q. The page range I want is roman numerals. Why is the page range generated incorrect?

A. We are working behind the scenes to refine to API call for page ranges including roman numerals. We know that users will be requesting roman numeral pages and will endeavour to get this enhancement released as soon as possible. For now, we would recommend uploading your own PDFs/ordering from EHESS for page ranges including roman numerals.

Q. Will the DCS show me associated ISBNs? If I enter an ISBN that my library doesn't hold, will the DCS show me an associated ISBN that my library does hold?

A. No. There is nothing in place in the DCS yet to match associated ISBNs. Born Digital content will be sourced purely by ISBN (as above).

Q. Can I add missing metadata to Born Digital content?

A. You can, but this will be overridden by what is supplied by the publisher when the system synchronises with the database that the Born Digital content is stored in

Q. Can I request a change is made to Born Digital metadata?

A. Yes. Seeing as the metadata comes directly from the publisher, the CLA will need to communicate the requested change to the publisher and ask them to make the change and re-supply the metadata. This means that the change request will take longer to implement than normal, but it is possible.

Q. Is the Born digital content stored in the DCS itself?

A. No. The actual Born Digital content is stored in our Education Platform database. When you choose to create an extract in the DCS, a call is made to the Education Platform database via API and your selected extract will be retrieved from there. The extract itself will be stored in the DCS in PDF format.

Q. What happens if a publisher withdraws their content from the DCS?

A. Publishers reserve the right to withdraw content from the DCS at any time, but they must give the CLA 30 days' notice. If a publisher wishes to remove content, the CLA will check the DCS to see how many requests have the particular piece of content associated with them, and contact any and all HEIs that are using it. You will then have 30 days to archive the request, upload an alternate scan, and reinstate. This system is in place to ensure that nothing is removed from the system without your knowledge so that we can avoid broken links.

Q. If I notice that metadata is missing from a Born Digital title, can I add it as normal? 

A. You can, but it's important to note that this will be overridden once the scheduled synchronisation happens with the Education Platform. That is, the publisher metadata will always override what is in the DCS. If you notice something is incorrect, please contact the CLA as normal, and we will endeavour to have the publisher change this information.

Q. Is there any journal content included in the Born Digital update?

A. No. Only book content is included in the Born Digital update. 

Q. If the Born Digital content doesn't meet our HEIs standards, can I download the extract, make the necessary changes (i.e. OCR it) and then re-upload as a crowd-sourced extract?

A. No, this will breach the agreement we have with publishers. If the Born Digital content does not meet your HEIs standards, we would recommend you scan and upload your own PDF.

Q. What accessibility standard does the Born Digital content meet?

A. This information was not supplied by the publisher, but we are looking into getting this information and making it available to users.

Q. Can I see a list of Born Digital content currently on the DCS? 

A. Yes! Please see Born Digital Inventory March 2022 attached to this article.