This collection comprises academic works produced by Chulalongkorn University faculty, researchers, and graduate students, including theses and dissertations, academic papers, lecture materials, best-practice manuals, and scholarly publications.
Content is curated to support education and research and must comply with ethical principles, personal data protection obligations, and intellectual property rights. Where eligible, works are preserved for long-term access in the Chula Digital Preservation environment. CUIR currently provides access to 7 collections as follows:
Chulalongkorn University's Electronic Master's and Doctoral Theses Collections. This collection encompasses an extensive compilation of over 67,000 master's and doctoral theses from 23 faculties and colleges, covering the academic year 1943 to the present.
This collection includes more than 1,800 titles of independent studies from 13 faculties and colleges that offer Plan B Master's degree programs. The coverage year is from the academic year 2004 to the present.
This collection includes more than 1,900 titles of undergraduate students' senior projects. The coverage year is from the academic year 2005 to the present.
This collection includes more than 2,500 research reports from professors and researchers affiliated with Chulalongkorn University's faculties and research institutions.
This collection has more than 300 titles of academic works and textbooks. Professors at Chulalongkorn University authored each work within this collection.
This digital collection of academic and research articles was written by Chulalongkorn University's professors and researchers. The articles were published in international and Thai academic journals and Chulalongkorn University's journals. More than 2,000 articles are in this collection; some were available in full-text, and some were provided a link to access the articles directly from the journal publishers.
The University's support staff composed the collection of synthetic works, analytical works, research reports, and operational manuals. These works served as a part of evaluating university employees and promoting them to higher positions.
TAIC provides digitized historical and cultural heritage collections documenting Thailand and Southeast Asia, including rare books, manuscripts, monographs, archival documents, and selected historical journals/newspapers. The collection supports teaching, research, and cultural heritage studies.
Access conditions vary by rights status and sensitivity. Public-domain materials are generally made available openly, while some items may be restricted. These cultural heritage collections include
Preserve detailing documents in social science and development in Thailand and other countries in the Southeast Asian region since post-WW II in the 1960s.
Contains a wide variety of subjects in humanities, from religion and anthropology to linguistics. The prominent characteristics of the collection manifest in possession evidence, i.e., bookplates, handwriting, explanatory documents, and other forms of private archives hidden or inserted within the books. Another vital characteristic of this collection is the evolution of printing and publication in the eras of King Rama IV to King Rama VII, which was reflected in each item in the collection.
Present personal collection, royal literary works, and publications related to Prince Dhani Nivat and his highness’ responsibilities as the high-rank officer and Minister of the Ministry of Education under the reign of King Prajadhipok and as a regent to King Bhumibol the Great. The collection is well-known for containing information on royal traditional practices, royal history, royal affairs, and politics, with extensive knowledge in linguistics, languages, and archaeology, especially in Southeast Asia.
King Chulalongkorn first conferred a set of 39-volume Tipitaka in Thai script edition published in B.E.2431 (1888), which had been finalized publishing another remaining six final volumes contains the subject of Patthana by King Prajadhipok. The edition was published in 1500 copies under “Tipitaka Siam-Rath Edition.”
Provides access to many Thai electronic rare book collections for high-level research in Thai history. Unique attributes of the collection are the history of publication and printing that come in various types of papers and binding. This collection has sub-collections, namely the royal literary works of King Rama V and King Rama VI, Personal collections of prominent figures in the Thailand, Samut Khoi or Samut Thai (Thai ancient palm-leaf manuscripts), Chulalongkorn University publications, Royal Thai Government Gazette’s earliest printed versions in 2487 B.E. (1944), and other occasional publications considered as primary sources for education and historical, social, and cultural research in Thailand.
Contains Thai and international journals and newspapers published by the government sectors and commercial publishers that were digitized and provided in electronic versions for online access. The prominent items are bound volumes of L'Illustration and Le Petit Journal published in 1893 and 1897, which coincide with significant events in Thai history.
Provides the collections of images and videos related to significant events at the University and historical events associated with the University and its community, covering the contents of the University’s faculties, institutions, and various units within the University. Additionally, it provides CHULA e-Lecture, an online learning repository categorized by academic years and the specific courses made available by instructors. Students enrolled in these courses have permission to access and review past lessons.
"Institutional Archives" is a digital collection of books and documents published on special occasions at Chulalongkorn University. This collection includes "Chula Archives," a collection of Chulalongkorn University publications on special events, biographies of important persons at Chulalongkorn University, commencement programs, and special lectures, and includes the Office of Academic Resources Archives (OAR Archives).
“Open e-Books" is a digital collection of research reports, textbooks from other universities and institutes, and e-books that were contributed to the Office of Academic Resources for public use.
Chula DigiVerse is the digital discovery and access platform operated by the Office of Academic Resources (OAR), Chulalongkorn University. It provides online access to selected scholarly outputs, institutional memory, and cultural heritage collections for learning, teaching, research, and public knowledge.
Chula DigiVerse is part of the Chula Digital Preservation Project (launched in 2023), which is designed to ensure sustained access to digital knowledge and to reduce risks associated with digital disruption and technological obsolescence.
The Chula Digital Preservation Project is implemented through two integrated systems:
• Chula DigiVerse (Presentation & Access): provides discovery services and access copies (where permitted).
• Chula AMATA (Preservation Vault): securely preserves selected collections for long-term stewardship. Direct access to preservation Master copies is restricted to authorized OAR staff involved in preservation operations.
Not all content available on Chula DigiVerse is automatically preserved in Chula AMATA. Selection for long-term preservation follows documented criteria and governance, as described in the Digital Preservation Policy.
Chula DigiVerse hosts multiple curated collections, such as:
• University scholarly works and intellectual outputs
• Cultural heritage and special collections
• Institutional records of enduring value
• Multimedia documentation of significant University events
• Open educational or open-access publications (where applicable)
Each item page displays key metadata and the applicable access/right status.
OAR serves three broad user groups through DigiVerse and the preservation program:
1) Data Consumers (end users): Chulalongkorn University community, partner institutions, and the general public. Access is provided according to rights and sensitivity conditions, with priority services generally aligned to University members, then partners, then the public.
2) Depositors / Content Producers: students, faculty, researchers, University units, and external donors who contribute content through defined submission channels and curatorial processes.
3) OAR Authorized Personnel (administrators/preservation staff): responsible for appraisal, ingest, rights assessment, preservation actions, and system administration.
OAR applies documented processes to ensure content quality, legal compliance, and preservation readiness. Key practices include:
• review of submission context and required metadata
• access-rights determination and sensitivity screening
• technical checks (e.g., malware screening, format identification/validation)
• creation of access copies for DigiVerse where dissemination is permitted
For content selected for preservation in Chula AMATA, OAR maintains integrity controls and auditable preservation actions, including routine fixity verification and preservation metadata that records key events and technical characteristics.
For questions, reuse/permission requests, or reporting an issue (e.g., copyright, privacy, or inappropriate content), please contact Office of Academic Resources (OAR), Chulalongkorn University via the official Library contact channels shown below:
Office of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University
254 Phayathai Road, Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330 Thailand
Library Service 0-2218-2929, 0-2218-2927
or contact us through Suggestion, Question, or Compliment form via https://www.car.chula.ac.th/complaint/wc.php
These Terms of Service constitute an agreement between User and Chula DigiVerse. By using or accessing any Services, the user agrees to be bound by these Terms of Service. Please read these terms carefully before using or accessing Services. All individuals who access or otherwise use the Services, including casual visitors to the Website, are referred to in these Terms of Service as "Users."
Chula DigiVerse complies with the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) B.E. 2563 (พระราชบัญญัติคุ้มครอง ข้อมูลส่วนบุคคล พ.ศ. 2562). The use, collection, and storage of personal data is governed by the Office of Academic Resources Personal Data Policy (นโยบายคุ้มครองข้อมูลส่วนบุคคลสําหรับผู้รับบริการของสํานักงานวิทย ทรัพยากร). Please read the Policy carefully before using any of the Services. By using the Services, you indicate that you understand and consent to collecting, using, and disclosing your information as described in the Personal Data Policy
By using Chula DigiVerse, you agree to:
• comply with rights statements
• provide proper attribution
• refrain from unlawful/harmful uses
OAR may restrict access, remove content, or take further action when policy violations occur.
Chula DigiVerse has announced the right to use digital files in our platform according to Creative Common Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) and other Rights statements, which the platform provides for each item in some collections. Users must cite or give credit whenever using the resources from the platform. All resources allow for non-commercial uses only, and no adaptations are allowed. The users can follow the link at the logos to the Creative Commons website and the Rights statements' pages for the details of each license and rights statement of the items.
All submissions and published items must be consistent with OAR’s collection development priorities and the relevant curation stage. Content must not:
• Contravene academic ethics, research integrity standards, or professional conduct.
• Contain illegal, harmful, or prohibited materials that could affect public order or institutional integrity.
• Violate human rights principles or applicable personal data protection laws; or
• Infringe patents, copyright, or other intellectual property rights.
OAR may review submissions and reserves the right, at its discretion and where required, to reject content or to restrict, suspend, or remove access based on policy requirements, legal obligations, and risk assessment.
OAR manages content in compliance with applicable personal data protection laws and University regulations. Materials containing personal or sensitive data may be restricted, redacted, or removed from public access where required.
Opinions and content within repository items remain the responsibility of the author and/or the originating unit. OAR provides access and stewardship services but does not guarantee that all content is free from error, nor accept liability for damages arising from misuse of the content.
Chula DigiVerse sets the guidelines for sensitive/classified data management as seen in the following:
1. The Chula DigiVerse Staff assesses the type of information resources to select the appropriate information repository for accurate dissemination, considering the process involved with digital files, the rights for dissemination of each information resource, and the access levels, such as
1.1 General users have permission to access full-text documents categorized under Open Access.
1.2 General users have permission to access partial resources, while only Chulalongkorn University members (CU members) can access full-text documents.
1.3 Permission is granted only for accessing abstracts.
2. The authors or owners of the original information acknowledge the terms and conditions for
2.1 In the case of theses, there will be a publication approval process through the i-thesis system or by requesting an embargo, subject to the evaluation by the Graduate School.
2.2 For documents or other digital files, consent for publication must be provided in writing by filling out the 'Academic Work Publication on the website Permission Form' or by specifying a written approval message via email or in a physical written record.
3. The information resources to be added to the digital information repository must not fall under data that is sensitive or infringe upon any of the following criteria:
3.1 The content of the information resource must adhere to ethical principles, including academic ethics, research ethics in the humanities, research ethics, and professional ethics. 3.2 The content of the information resource must not be offensive, incite, provoke, disseminate false information, or adversely affect the stability and peace of the nation or various organizations.
3.3 The content of the work must consider and respect the principles of human rights and the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019).
3.4 The content of the work must not infringe upon intellectual property, patents, and copyrights of others.
4. Actions in the case of discovering information resources that do not conform or comply with Criterion.
4.1 Level 1: Human Errors
4.1.1 Any errors discovered in the process of importing files or metadata, the staff should inspect the deficiencies, temporarily suspend the publication of the digital file, make the necessary corrections, and then re-evaluate before publishing it again.
4.1.2 If errors are found within the file itself, and the author requests file changes or corrections, the author should inform the responsible staff at the digital information repository in writing or via email. The staff should temporarily suspend the publication of the digital file until the necessary changes are made and completed. Afterward, the staff should review and approve the publication again.
4.2 Level 2: Non-Compliance Works: Inspected or Complaint-Generated Cases Violating Data Privacy or Ethical Standards as per Criterion 3
4.2.1 If staff encounters the works that do not adhere to Criterion 3 after the fact: 4.2.1.1 Suspend the publication of the digital file and temporarily hide such a bibliography from the library's search system.
4.2.1.2 The Staff should fill out a complaint form (https://www.car.chula.ac.th/complaint/) as evidence.
4.2.1.3 The staff should inform the work's owner or affiliated unit to provide an explanation or correction.
4.2.1.4 If the work's owner cannot make the necessary corrections following Criterion 3 within 30 office days, the staff should report progress and proceed according to PM-CPS-01.
4.2.1.5 If it is concluded that the publication should be permanently suspended, the staff should inform the work's owner or affiliated unit in writing to remove the file from the digital information repository. The staff should also remove the work from the library's search system and provide reasons for data deletion in the bibliography in the Note field.
4.2.2 In the case of complaints regarding content that violates Criterion 3, the following steps should be taken:
4.2.2.1 If it is a thesis, the complainant should contact the Graduate School
4.2.2.2 If it concerns other digital information, the complainant should submit a complaint through https://www.car.chula.ac.th/complaint/wc.php or the staff responsible for handling such cases can fill out the complaint information on behalf of the complainant through https://www.car.chula.ac.th/complaint/. After that, steps 4.2.1.2 to 4.2.1.5 should be followed."
4.2.3 In the case of inspecting content that violates Criterion 4.2.2, the procedures detailed in the Takedown Policy should be followed.
5. The content and various opinions presented in academic works are the responsibility of the authors and the producing organization, if applicable. The Office of Academic Resources is not liable for any damages, whether civil or criminal, that may occur.
6. The Office of Academic Resources reserves the right to review metadata and edit files to conform to a uniform cataloging standard.
Office of Academic Resources provides an open-access platform to distribute knowledge and resources of Chulalongkorn University communities or resources that Chulalongkorn University reserves rights/resources to publish to fulfill the aim of study and research.
Office of Academic Resources only allows users to download and share Chula DigiVerse information resources with credit/reference without changing information or using it for commercial purposes. If any misuse of Chula DigiVerse information resources is found, the Office of Academic Resources will act as follows:
1. Notice to the wrongdoer to stop misusing content and to withdraw any resources resulting from the misuse of Chula DigiVerse information resources. (If already published)
2. If any organization publishes any resources resulting from the misuse of Chula DigiVerse information resources, the Office of Academic Resources will notify that organization to withdraw those resources.
3. If the wrongdoer does not cooperate, the Office of Academic Resources will report the case to the university law unit (Center of Law and Legal Affairs) to act according to the law.
Each item on Chula DigiVerse displays its rights status and permitted uses. Users must comply with the rights statement shown on the item record.
OAR applies standardized rights and access statements, including:
• Public Domain Mark (PDM): Materials believed to be out of copyright. Reuse is permitted; citation is required.
• Creative Commons licenses (e.g., CC BY-NC-ND 4.0): Reuse is permitted under the stated license terms (e.g., non-commercial, no derivatives, attribution required).
• In-copyright materials (Rights Statements): Access may be restricted. Where permitted by applicable law and/or rights holder terms, users may use content for education and research with proper attribution. Uses beyond the permitted scope (e.g., commercial reuse, republication, adaptation) may require permission from the rights holder.
Note: Certain in-copyright items are available to Chulalongkorn University members only.
• No Known Copyright: Copyright status is undetermined. Access may be restricted. Users remain responsible for rights due diligence prior to reuse.
Note: Certain items in this category may be available to Chulalongkorn University members only.
Your responsibilities:
When reusing materials, you must:
• Cite the source appropriately
• Respect license conditions and access restrictions
• Obtain permission when required (e.g., commercial reuse, adaptation, publication beyond permitted scope)
Copyright is a bundle of exclusive rights the law grants to authors and creators of original works of art, which its author created with his intelligence, knowledge, capacity, and effort. The created work must be original and fall within categories protected by copyright law. The work shall automatically receive protection after creation without registration.
The copyright notification made to the Department of Intellectual Property is not a certification of the copyright owner's right. It is just a notification to a governmental agency that the person is the copyright owner of the notified work. The notifying person shall certify that he is the work's copyright owner. The certificate issued by the Department of Intellectual Property does not certify that the notifying person is the work's copyright owner.
Copyright notification
If an objection or dispute regarding copyright ownership is raised, the court shall consider based on facts on a case-by-case basis.
Types of works protected by copyright law
Literary works (Books, articles, poems), dramatic works (dancing poses), artistic works (drawings, photographs), musical works (lyrics and melodies), audiovisual works (VCDs), cinematographic works, sound recordings (tape cassettes, CDs), broadcasting works (radio and TV programs), or any other work in the literary, scientific, or artistic domain.
Reference: Department of Intellectual Property https://www.ipthailand.go.th/th/copyright-001.html
Chulalongkorn University Intellectual Repository (CUIR)
License and Rights statement
Chulalongkorn University Intellectual Repository (CUIR) provides a search system and access to digital files in 7 collections, including CHULA e-Theses, CHULA e-Independent Studies (IS), CHULA e-Senior Projects, CHULA e-Research, CHULA e-Books, CHULA e-Articles, and CHULA Support Staff Academic Works. It also includes Institutional Archives and Open e-Books collection, each with specific Rights Statements and Usage Rights as follows:
1. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Collections
- Chulalongkorn University Intellectual Repository (CUIR)
- Chula Archives
- OAR Archives
Usage Rights
Any purposes, especially educational ones, are allowed, except for commercial uses. Appropriate credits are required.
2. Rights Statements: In copyright – Educational Use Permitted
- Open e-Books
Educational use is permitted without permission. Any additional uses beyond educational purposes require explicit permission from the rights holders. Please acquire permission from the rights holder(s) directly.
The access rights to the collections of Chulalongkorn University Intellectual Repository: CUIR, including the Institutional Archives and the Open e-books, are categorized according to user groups as follows:
Thailand and ASEAN Information (TAIC)
License and Rights Statements
Library patrons can access and utilize 12 collections at the Thailand and ASEAN Information Center at Office of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University under licensing agreements and Rights Statement in accordance with the Creative Common Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, categorized by different Right Statement groups and accessibility rights as follows:
1. Rights Statements: In copyright – Educational Use Permitted
- Thailand and Southeast Asia in Cold War period
- Statistics
- General documents
- Prince Kitiyakara Voralaksana Collection (KI)
- Prince Dhani Nivat Collection (DH)
- Rare Book Collection (RA)
- Rare Journal and Newspaper
- Wat Ko Literatures
- Tipitaka Siam-Rath Edition (Online Version)
2. Rights Statements: No known copyright
- Palm-leaf manuscript
- Folding-book manuscript
- Other individual rare books collection
These collections have 2 copyright statuses: No known copyright for the items with no conclusive copyright information and public domain for the objects’ copyrights declared expired by the Thai Copyright Act. Please contact the Thailand and ASEAN Information Center, Office of Academic Resources.
3. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
- Committee for Coordination of Services to Displaced Persons (CCSDPT) in 1980s-1990s
Any purposes especially educational ones are allowed, except for commercial uses. Appropriate credits are required.
Usage Policy
1. Library Members of all types, including individuals and consortium members/institutions, have access to digital information resources for all collections for which the library has specified rights. Members are allowed to download full-text books and documents.
2. General Public Users can access and search digital information resources from the information library for items and collections to which the library has granted rights. They can view the digital resource catalog, open and read items, and download full-text resources from the catalog for items with a status of "Public."
3. Chula DigiVerse Digital resources do not permit anyone to redistribute, reproduce, or modify files and content from digital information resources downloaded from the digital information library in any way. This includes prohibiting the dissemination of resources on websites, networks, or any other publishing platforms.
4. When using digital information resources provided by Chula DigiVerse Digital resources, proper citations or attribution of the source of the data must be given every time. Please refer to the access rights for collections in the Thai National Information Center and ASEAN community, as categorized by user groups according to the displayed schedule.
The access rights for the Thailand and ASEAN Information Center collections are categorized by user groups as follows.
Licenses and Rights Statements
The digital collections are operated and are provided in service under licensing agreements and rights statements as follows:
Public Domain
Covers the rare books, research documents and journals that are identified as public domain by the copyright protections in Section 19-26 of Thailand’s Copyright Act BE 2537 (1994).
Usage of content is permitted without permission.
See detailed information for Public Domain Mark https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/pdm/
Creative Commons (CC BY-NC) 4.0
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Covers the documents, research, and journal articles that the rights holders allow free access/public dissemination.
No commercial use is permitted without permission. Appropriate credit to the source is required.
See license description: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
In copyright – Educational Use Permitted
Covers the rare books, research, documents, and articles that still are under protection of Copyright Act BE 2537 (1994). E-resource, as a library, provides free access to the copyrighted resources under Section 34 (1) and (2). Users can use the content following the Fair Use doctrine and Section 32.
Educational use is permitted without permission. Additional uses require explicit permission. Users are solely responsible for requests for permission.
No known copyright
Covers the rare books, research, documents, and articles created by third-party creators with no apparent copyright status. The mentioned resources are identified as unprotected by intellectual property laws for their explicit published and copyright years.
Usage of content is permitted without permission. Some content or images may still be covered by the Copyright Act. Any usages beyond Fair Use need explicit permission from the rightsholders. Users are solely responsible for permission requests.
The Office of Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, recognizes the importance of intellectual property and assesses the copyright status of all digital collections before ingesting into the Chula DigiVerse Repository. Copyright assessment is based on the protection period under Thailand’s Copyright Act B.E. 2537 (1994) and its amendments, with reliance on the copyright infringement exemption under Section 6, Article 34. The Office also complies with the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) for materials containing personal or sensitive data.
While all materials are carefully reviewed prior to publication, errors may occur due to ambiguous rights, incomplete copyright information, or undetectable sensitive data. As a result, some items containing copyright, privacy, or other rights issues may inadvertently appear on the Repository.
If you believe content on Chula DigiVerse:
• Infringes copyright or other rights
• Contains personal/sensitive data improperly disclosed
• Is inappropriate or violates policy
You may submit a formal complaint through the website’s contact channel or contact OAR via the Library contact points. During review, OAR may temporarily suspend dissemination while the case is assessed. When removal is required, OAR will take action in accordance with established procedures and governance.
Suppose any materials provided access on this platform violate the copyright law, privacy act, or other related laws appear in the Repository. You can submit a request to withdraw the materials along with the documents or evidence to prove the issues as requested. To submit takedown request(s), follow the detailed instructions below.
1) Submit a complaint through DigiVerse’s Help/Feedback or the Office’s Complaint Form by titling the topic or putting in the details as “Request to take down digital resource(s).”
2) Specify the record link (URI) and the resource(s)’s full details.
3) Cite the reason(s) for the takedown request: for example, but not limited to copyright law, Personal Data Protection Act, obscenity, defamation, or other protocols indicating the issues of the materials.
4) Attach the documents/evidence of the request’s submitter as in the examples
• Copyright infringement: the documents prove the status of copyright holders/rights holders/copyright owners or your relationship(s) to the resource(s).
• Other cases include the authorized agencies’ withdrawal orders or court orders: the documents state the necessity/revocation orders from the institutions, government, or corporate bodies with the authority to order suspension or withdrawal of the resource(s), such as a memorandum or order to revoke/terminate the publication (e.g., Graduate School, the funding agencies, or publishers)
5) Provide contact information, including your first and last name, telephone number, and email.
6) Once the submitted request is completed, the system will send a confirmation email of the request submission to your email address.
After Chula DigiVerse Team receives your request, within seven days, the Team will take the following actions:
• The Collection Manager(s) will perform record suppression to disable search and access to the resource(s) within three business days after noticing the request.
• Once the record is suppressed, the Team will bring the takedown request(s) and evidence into the investigation process.
• If the details are established according to the issues by the request(s), i.e., copyright infringement status, the resource(s) will be permanently removed from the platform.
• In other cases, if submitted with evidence or official documents issued by the government/corporate bodies, the Collection Manager(s) will withdraw the resources immediately.
• The Team will proceed with the Sensitive Data and Academic Ethics Policy for the request with sensitive data and academic ethics issues.
• After completing the investigation and takedown process, the Collection Manager(s) will email the result report(s) to the takedown request’s submitter.
• The Team reserves the right not to take any action if the applicant does not have documents showing rights or involvement as the copyright holder. or the recipient of any rights related to the rights of information resources.
Digital Preservation Commitment
OAR preserves selected digital materials because of their enduring intellectual, cultural, historical, informational, or evidential value. Preservation aims to retain authenticity, integrity, usability, reliability, and sustainability of digital objects over time.
Standards and Framework
The preservation system is designed in alignment with ISO 14721 (OAIS Reference Model) and supports transparent, documented, and auditable preservation operations.
Preservation Strategy
Key components include:
1.Bit preservation & integrity monitoring
• fixity and integrity verification on scheduled cycles (including package-level verification)
• cryptographic checksums are used to detect unintended change
2.File format monitoring, normalization, and migration
• format identification/validation and ongoing monitoring for obsolescence risk
• preservation actions are authorized and recorded when migration is required
3.Preservation metadata
• structured metadata is recorded to document technical characteristics, provenance, and preservation events (e.g., using METS and PREMIS)
4.Replication and disaster resilience
• multiple copies, routine backup, and a geographically separate disaster recovery arrangement
5.Governance and trained staffing
• preservation policies and workflows are overseen by a cross-functional committee; trained staff are assigned specific responsibilities
Selection for Long-Term Preservation
While DigiVerse serves broad access needs, long-term preservation in the preservation vault prioritizes:
• institutional intellectual outputs (e.g., theses/dissertations and scholarly works)
• cultural heritage and special collections (e.g., rare books, manuscripts, maps, audiovisual heritage)
• institutional records of permanent administrative or legal value
• materials aligned with University and OAR strategy
Some content may be excluded from long-term preservation due to being ephemeral, unsupported for sustainable preservation, or constrained by rights/licensing (e.g., some classroom capture materials).
Access Levels
Access to dissemination copies on DigiVerse is determined based on rights, sensitivity, donor/depositor agreements, and legal obligations.
Preservation masters and certain restricted records are not publicly accessible.
Risk Management
OAR applies a risk-based approach to managing digital content and services, including legal, ethical, and technical risks (e.g., copyright and licensing, privacy and personal data protection, information security, integrity, and technology obsolescence). Where risks are identified, OAR may apply mitigation measures such as enhanced review, access restrictions, redaction, temporary suspension, or takedown in accordance with policy and legal obligations.
Digital Preservation Controls
OAR manages digital preservation risks through documented controls within the Chula AMATA preservation environment, including:
• Bit preservation (fixity and integrity): Fixity checks are performed annually using SHA-256 checksums. Any anomalies are flagged, logged, and investigated through integrity-check reporting and review.
• Replication and disaster resilience: Multiple copies are maintained through routine backups. At least one replicated copy is stored in a geographically separate Disaster Recovery (DR) site, with integrity checks applied across copies.
• File format normalization and migration: File formats are identified and validated using the PRONOM registry. When format obsolescence risk is identified, the system issues notifications and provides risk information to support review and authorized preservation actions, including migration where necessary.
These controls support the continued authenticity, integrity, and usability of preserved digital objects over time.
Born-digital:
Most acquisitions of the Born-digital items in the Chula DigiVerse Platform have been acquired through deposits within the University's members (students, faculties, and researchers) and internal organizations; very few are through donations of both internal and external individuals and institutions, occasionally transferred as text-based documents in the major file formats known to the Internet and the information industry, such as MS Word and Portable Document Format (PDF). Meanwhile, the audio-visual collections acquire their assets through their internal production. Both have concrete control over the file formats they receive to some extent since they establish the Preferred File Formats in the File Format Registries for their archival file formats and materials for access in explicit manners. See more in the FORMAT POLICY REGISTRY section below.
Digitized:
Digitized materials are created from the physical of the Digital Collections holdings. We digitize the physical materials in well-known file formats suitable for access and preservation. Still, the physical items will be conserved and monitored for their conditions and status by the checking schedule. If the digitized files are damaged or lost, we will recreate the new files from the physical materials and replace them in the collection management and preservation systems once the digitization process has been completed. Some digitized items will rely on the raw materials from digitization, for example, the digitized documents from Thailand and Southeast Asia in the Cold War Period; any lost or damaged files will be recreated from the raw and unedited TIFF files from scanners instead of returning to the analog items to prevent any possible damages occurring to the physical documents in the scanning process.
Preservation and Access:
Chula DigiVerse is committed to the long-term preservation of born-digital and digitized materials. Preservation formats should be kept, along with the original documents, to ensure long-term preservation. Preferably, preservation formats should be stable, uncompressed, or losslessly compressed and openly documented. Access formats should be compact and widely used. The Special Collections Format Policy Registry defines the file format policies implemented to preserve and access Special Collections' digital holdings. For born-digital, we keep each digital object in its original file format and create derivative versions suitable for preservation and access. In the case of digitized items (i.e., scanned images in PDF format), we will create high- resolution open file formats that can suitably be exploited within the access point and well- transformed into archival formats as well (i.e., PDF/A with the matching compliances for each type of the contents within the original standard PDF files).
The following Format Policy Register defines which file formats are migrated and preserved in new formats.
FORMAT POLICY REGISTRY:
For text-based and scanned-image documents (e.g., born-digital thesis and other scanned-image documents: rare book collections and digitized theses)
Basic-level digital preservation support will be provided to other files identified as "Text" mime type.
For images
All other files identified as "Image" mime type are considered "Image" document type with Basic-Level digital preservation support. Some formats may additionally be normalized to TIFF files for preservation, but the library does not guarantee full support.
For video
For audio
Retention is governed by OAR’s documented appraisal and collection management processes. A designated committee reviews and reappraises DigiVerse collections annually to confirm continuing value, compliance, and access conditions.
Collections designated for long-term digital preservation are retained for 10 years and are then subject to reappraisal based on institutional value, legal/rights constraints, and sustainability considerations. Other collections follow defined retention schedules and are reviewed annually by collection managers. OAR may update retention status and access conditions following reappraisal, with appropriate documentation.
Chula DigiVerse assigns DOIs or other persistent identifiers (PIDs) to selected records to support long-term discoverability, reliable citation, and interoperability in line with the FAIR Principles. Persistent identifiers help ensure that digital objects and their metadata can be referenced consistently over time, even if system locations or access routes change.
PID assignment follows OAR’s documented curation and publication workflows. Where a DOI or PID is provided, it is displayed on the item record and should be used for formal citation. OAR maintains PID-to-record resolution and updates identifiers and landing pages as needed to support continued access.
OAR applies AI-assisted OCR to selected digitized collections to generate searchable text and improve machine readability. OCR outputs support full-text discovery, metadata enhancement, and interoperability for research and reuse, consistent with FAIR-aligned access objectives. OCR accuracy varies by source quality, language, typography, and layout; OCR text is provided as a supplementary representation. For citation or authoritative reference, users should rely on the original digitized files and the item record metadata.
Common OCR Challenges in Rare Books and Historical Print
OCR on rare books and historical documents may be limited by characteristics such as:
1. Degraded and non-standard typography: aged paper/ink and historical typefaces that differ significantly from modern fonts.
2. Complex or irregular layout: non-linear line structures and historical printing conventions that require advanced line reconstruction.
3. Historical orthography and obsolete characters: spelling, grammar, and characters no longer used in contemporary language (e.g., legacy Thai orthographic forms).
Approach and Limitations
OAR uses an OCR approach that prioritizes high-accuracy visual recognition and is tuned for historical documents with complex layouts and degraded print. Because rare materials often contain older spelling and obsolete characters, automated language correction may be unreliable. OCR text is provided to support search and discovery, and users should verify key passages against the original digitized images.