Calvin University
AC-11: Open Access to Research

Calvin Digital Commons serves as an online institutional repository (IR) for Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary and is a service of Hekman Library. The repository includes working papers and conference papers, master’s and doctoral theses, undergraduate theses, and copies of published articles, as well as presentations and other works not published elsewhere. It also houses a wide variety of digitized archival material related to the university, seminary, and the Christian Reformed Church. In particular, it contains digitized materials from special collections related to Reformed Christianity, Dutch North American history, and local and state history.

The repository incorporates work by individuals, teams, and programs across the many fields of teaching, learning, and scholarship that are supported by the seminary and university. These range from the natural and social sciences to the arts and humanities, and to professions related to business, communication, technology, health, and Christian ministry. Hekman Library provides this service as part of the university’s and seminary’s commitments to public scholarship in a diverse public sphere. It also does so in order to reflect their Christian missions to integrate teaching, learning, and scholarship with both Christian faith and engagement with all aspects of life, whether that be in service to the church or in all fields of work and spheres of cultural and social life.

Calvin Digital Commons seeks to communicate the intellectual and artistic vitality of a Christian faith informed by a Reformed theological tradition that values God’s revelation through both the natural realm and Scripture. Truth is found in diverse places and ought to be communicated just as widely while we participate in scholarly conversations and build collaborative and professional networks.

For next year, Dean for Research will consider publishing a policy promoting open-access and will work with the grant office to include funding for open-access fees. (David Malone)