About Arca

Arca is a collaborative initiative that puts the development and implementation of a digital repository within reach for every organisation, at a reasonable cost, and in a supported environment.

Arca exists to create opportunities to share digital scholarship and heritage, and to build communities in British Columbia and beyond; for access, discovery, and knowledge creation, with cost-effective, shared infrastructure.

Through centralised coordination and a collaborative approach, Arca:

• Ensures organisations can offer a high-quality, responsive digital repository service at an affordable cost.
• Maximises system efficiencies through centralised licensing, expertise, best practices, and support.
• Builds a community of practice that extends expertise, nurtures innovation and cultivates collaboration.
• Facilitates search across digital assets from all participating organisations.
• Seeks opportunities to strengthen and build new partnerships.

Arca is built on Islandora, a Canadian-developed open-source platform currently in use at over 100 public and private institutions worldwide. This shared platform provides organisations with open-access repositories for research, theses, and any other digital assets they wish to make available to the wider community.

Arca is made possible by a partnership between the BC Electronic Library Network (BC ELN) and Charlottetown, PEI-based software firm discoverygarden. Implementation was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.

For more information about Arca, including project timelines, announcements, annual reports, etc. please visit the BC ELN website.

Questions? Contact the Arca Administrative Centre.