About SUrface

How to Join SUrface

SUrface gathers, organizes, disseminates, and preserves the cultural and scholarly record of SU. At the same time, it increases the visibility of authors' works; maximizes research impact; facilitates interdisciplinary research; and provides local, regional, and global communities with immediate and permanent access. For more information about contributing your work to the SUrface archive, please contact the SUrface team at surface@syr.edu.

For More Information

We've tried to anticipate what questions you might have in using SUrface, both as a contributor and reader. Please contact the SUrface team at surface@syr.edu if you have any questions.

  • Copyright/Permission
    This page provides an example of the terms an author or author representative agrees to when submitting an item to SUrface.

    Dissertations/Theses Submission - Proquest and SUrface Agreement Clarification

    I would like to call your attention to a feature on the ProQuest electronic dissertation site. When you are selecting your publishing options you will be presented with information regarding the Proquest/UMI Agreement and the University Agreement regarding SUrface. Due to limitations of this site you must select that you agree to the University Agreement. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOUR DISSERTATION WILL BE PUT INTO SUrface.

    In the publishing options screen, you will be asked to answer the question below. Your response to this question will indicate your preference for your work to be accessed (or not) in SUrface.

    Access options for my school's institutional repository (IR)
    Please select the option that best reflects your preference for having your work available through Open Access via SUrface (Syracuse University's institutional repository). *

    1. No Delay. Release my work to SUrface as soon as it is published
    2. Delay release for 6 months
    3. Delay release for 1 year
    4. Delay release for 2 years
    5. NEVER Release my work to SUrface
    *The website has a default “none of the above” option, please do not select this option. You must select from the above list.

    Note that the descriptive information (metadata) and abstract will be included in SUrface for all dissertations regardless of your decision on embargos and inclusion of your dissertation in SUrface.

    If you have questions or would like more information regarding SUrface please contact surface@syr.edu.

    Gabrielle Chapman, Ph.D.
    Associate Dean of the Graduate School
    Syracuse University
    207 Bowne Hall
    Syracuse, New York 13244

  • Frequently Asked Questions
    This FAQ provides detailed help on the ins and outs of submitting an item to SUrface.
  • Inclusion Criteria
    This page describes the who and what of SUrface: the scope of who should submit research to the archive along with a listing of what types of materials are most appropriate.
  • File Formats
    Electronic files come in many formats. While PDF is the most common format that you'll find in SUrface, we will try to support as many other file formats as possible. Please contact us if your research uses a format not found on the list.
  • Glossary of Terms
    If we use a term you haven't heard before, check our glossary to see we've defined. We are also trying to link to terms in this glossary from where you encounter them on the site.

Browse Collections in SUrface

In addition to SUrface's native search engine, it is possible to browse collections in the following ways.

  • Authors / Creators
    Alphabetical listing of authors who have works in SUrface. Click the name of an author to see a listing of that person's work.
  • Collections
    A listing of campus research units, centers, and departments that have submitted works to SUrface. The works of individual authors also appear with the group with which they are affiliated.
  • Disciplines
    Locate papers by their assigned subject disciplines. The listing is hierarchical with narrower terms included in searches against broader subject categories.
  • Dissertations
    SUrface provides links to the electronic full text of dissertations by SU graduate students. Although these dissertations are not part of the repository itself, all users have free access to the first 24 pages of these dissertations. Only members of the SU community have full access to the content.
  • Document Types
    SUrface collects many types research and creative works. Consult this list to get a sense of the types of materials that SUrface collects.

The SUrface Team

Beginning in December 2009, a team of librarians, staff, and students from the Syracuse University Library, the H. Douglas Barclay Law Library, University Archives, Syracuse University Press, and iSchool, with advice and consultation from University faculty, collaboratively planned and implemented SUrface, the Syracuse University Research Facility And Collaborative Environment. SUrface is a full-text, multi-media online database that provides open access to the extensive and diverse array of scholarly, professional, scientific, and creative output produced at Syracuse University.

Team members included:

  • Marty Hanson, Library
  • Charlotte Hess, Library
  • Tom Keays, Library
  • Meg Mason, University Archives
  • Suzanne Preate, Library
  • Kay Steinmetz, SU Press
  • Donna Sullivan, Library
  • Sarah Theimer, Library
  • Peter Verheyen, Library
  • Scott Warren, Library
  • Mark Weimer, Library
  • Robert Weiner, Law Library
  • Patrick Williams, Library
  • Carly Xiaoou Cheng, iSchool
  • Philip Bolton, Jr., iSchool