Depositing into Deep Blue Documents

How to Deposit a Work

The process for depositing a Work into Deep Blue Documents is outlined below. This process is different for U-M faculty/staff compared to students. To determine eligibility, please refer to the About page. For students, please see our Deep Blue Documents Institutional Repository for Students guide on how to get permission to deposit.

For U-M faculty and staff, please follow the steps below:

1. Log in to Deep Blue Documents
   • Navigate to Deep Blue Documents and click "Login" in the upper right-hand corner.
   
2. Start a New Work
   • Open your Deep Blue Documents dashboard by clicking on the menu icon in the upper left-hand corner.
   • Click “Work” under "+ New” to begin a new Work deposit.
   
3. Select a Collection
   • A pop-up will appear prompting you to select a Collection.
   • If a Collection does appear, select your Collection and proceed to step 4.
   • If a Collection does not appear, follow the steps below. (Note: New users do not automatically receive these privileges - you must be granted access by a Collection Administrator.)
     • Review the Research Collections list to determine which Collection you’d like to be affiliated with.
     • Contact your Collection Administrator or Contact Us (the Deep Blue team) to request access to your desired Collection.
   
4. New Work Page
   • After selecting a Collection, you will be directed to the New Work page.
   • At the time the Work is deposited, Deep Blue Documents automatically assigns several pieces of metadata:
     • Deposit Date
     • Depositor's Name
     • File Format (based on its extension)
     • Permanent, unique Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
     • Permanent, unique Handle
   
5. Provide Descriptive Information (Metadata) about your Work
   To enhance discoverability, you must fill in the following details:
   • Depositor Information
     • Author name(s) (First and Last)
     • U-M Campus
   • Item Details
     • Title
     • Date of Issue
     • Deposit Type (e.g., Image, Article, Book)
   • File uploads
   • Creative Commons License
   • Terms of Deposit acceptance
   • Optional metadata fields (ORCID iD, author affiliation, language, etc.) which can enhance the discoverability of your Work.
6. Check for Completion
   • A green check mark will appear next to each section once all required information is entered.
   • If any required section is incomplete, an orange exclamation mark will appear.
7. Finalizing Your Work
   • Deep Blue Documents encourages filling out both required and optional fields to maximize discoverability.
   • At the bottom of the page, use the submission bar to choose from Discard, Save, Save for later, and Deposit.
   • Submission Options:
     • Discard: Deletes the Work and all associated metadata and files.
     • Save: Saves your progress.
     • Save for Later: Saves your Work as a draft (marked with an orange Draft indicator in “My Works).
     • Deposit: Permanently deposits the Work. This action locks the Work and its metadata—future edits will require administrative support. If you anticipate making changes, use Save or Save for Later instead.
8. View your Works
   • To view your draft and deposited Works, click the profile icon in the top right corner and then select ‘My Works’
   • On your My Works page, all of your deposited (flagged “Deposited” in green) and draft (flagged “Draft” in orange) Works will appear.
   

Collections in Deep Blue Documents

Understanding Collections

Deep Blue Documents organizes its content around Collections to simplify the process of depositing your Work and to provide you with the most flexibility for finding Work interesting to you. Schools, colleges, departments, research institutes, and other large groups can create Collections in Deep Blue Documents to group related Works at the broadest levels. Collections allow people to explore a specific area in depth, or to focus specifically on only the areas they find interesting.

Creating Collections

Only Deep Blue Documents staff have the authority to create new Collections. We strongly encourage individuals to add their Work to an existing Collection, which is designed to accommodate a wide array of scholarly materials. If you find that existing Collections don't suit your needs, please Contact Us to discuss how we can best assist you.

Remember, the Collection in which a Work is placed doesn't affect its discoverability; works are fully searchable within the repository and indexed by search engines, regardless of which Collection they are located in.

Archival Collections – Bentley Library and Research Collections

The Archival Collections – Bentley Library contains some of the Bentley Historical Library’s online materials. The Bentley Historical Library collects the materials for and promotes the study of the State of Michigan and U-M. Only archivists at the Bentley Historical Library can deposit Works into their Collections. The Research Collections are related to various schools, colleges, departments, research institutes, etc. on all three U-M campuses. U-M faculty, staff, and students may be eligible to deposit into the Research Collections.

Missing Collections While Depositing

If you can’t find a Collection in the dropdown box, you haven’t been added as a depositor to a Collection. New Deep Blue Documents users don’t automatically receive deposit privileges—your Collection Administrator must grant access. Please contact your Collection Administrator to be added. If you have any other questions, feel free to Contact Us.

Additional Information on Depositing Works