Scholars Archive

ScholarsArchive is Brigham Young University’s institutional repository for the scholarly content produced by the university. It increases the visibility of published work and makes it available to anyone with an internet connection. Students and colleagues will be able to find your work more easily compared to print format or subscription databases. Because the library is dedicated to preserving the content in ScholarsArchive, you can be confident your work will be there far into the future.

ScholarsArchive is open to the general public, and can be found on the Harold B. Lee Library website. The ScholarsArchive front page may be accessed through a link found under “Unique Collections” on the home page of the library website, or at this address. (http://lib.byu.edu/sites/scholarsarchive/)

Using the search bar on the front page, you may search for keywords throughout the entire repository. To search in a specific collection, click on the desired collection under the Navigation menu on the left. Many of the collections listed include multiple sub-categories to help narrow your search. These collections are typically organized by the name of College and Department which produced the content.

By clicking on a specific collection, you may read a description of the collection and its included content. ScholarsArchive contains documents, images, posters, and programs covering a wide variety of topics, from a historical clothing collection to market studies conducted by BYU’s business students. Each collection page features a “Browse this collection” link next to the search bar which allows you to freely explore the content included in the collection.

After searching for keywords on the main ScholarsArchive page or in a specific collection, the website will send you to a results page which displays all of the relevant materials found in the database. This page includes a thumbnail image of each result, as well as the item’s title and description. Click on a result’s thumbnail or title to view the item page.

The item page includes an in-page display of the Adobe PDF document or image file. From here, you can view, print, and download the document or image. Beneath the display, the item page includes several key fields – called metadata – that contains useful information about the item. This information includes the title and description of the content, as well as its author, publisher, publication date, copyright status, and other details. Some content, such as photographs found in the Herbarium collection, may feature unique information such as the origin and specimen of the plant.

Each item has a permanent URL – also listed in the metadata – that can be pasted into an email or vita, or linked to on any web page. The URL in the address bar can also be used for these purposes. However, we strongly recommend using the permanent URL instead because it is a more stable URL that will not change, even with software or server updates.   

You may click “Back to Results” at the top or bottom of the page to continue searching or browsing the collection. Hopefully you are now comfortable with searching for content within the repository.

Take a moment to notice the link to the ScholarsArchive blog. The blog highlights many of the new additions to the repository, explains updates to the repository system, and mentions current requests for new materials to be submitted to ScholarsArchive.

ScholarsArchive is a valuable tool for anyone looking to find credible content and references on many different subjects. The repository is updated frequently to include current university research and publications. For questions or inquiries concerning ScholarsArchive, please send an e-mail to scholarsarchive@byu.edu.