How to Become a Member of SAOA

The foundation of SAOA is inter-institutional collaboration and its impact is achieved through an inclusive diversity of members. Fostering meaningful collaboration while recognizing difference necessitates a variety of pathways to membership but the benefits are the same for all members. Simultaneous membership in SAOA's parent body, SAMP (South Asia Materials Project), is a prerequisite for membership in SAOA and all membership terms are for a period of five years.

Member Categories

All institutions that can are strongly encouraged to support SAOA at the Category 1 level. SAOA is committed to the principles of and opportunities afforded by open access, yet relies on robust funding, content contribution and staffing support to complete its mission. Given the varying resources among institutions and our commitment to inclusion, SAOA has created membership categories in order to invite participation from as wide an array of institutions and stakeholders as possible.

Below, we define some general criteria to differentiate between the categories and to help South Asia librarians, scholars and local stakeholders try to advocate with their institutions for SAOA membership at a level appropriate to their own institution.

• Possible characteristics of Category 1 members might include:
  • Library staff dedicated to South Asia
  • Well-established, robust annual South Asia library materials budgets
  • Historically strong South Asia collections
  • Significant South Asia-related course offerings, research, and programs
• Possible characteristics of Category 2 members might include:
  • Limited staffing dedicated to South Asia
  • Moderate annual South Asia materials budgets
  • Some South Asia-specific course offerings or strong South Asia scholars
• Possible characteristics of Category 3 members might include:
  • Small or no budgets or funds for collaborative open-access projects
  • Very limited or no staffing for South Asia
  • Some South Asia teaching and research interest
  • Significant or unique South Asia holdings

Contributions

• Category 1: $25,000 over five years. Optional contributions may include digital assets or staff time.
• Category 2: $20,000 over five years, with optional digital/staff contributions.
• Category 3: $10,000 over five years or 500 digital volumes and/or staff time.

Benefits

• Stand for election to the SAOA Executive Board
• Serve on Content Curation, Infrastructure, or Funding Working Groups
• Vote in Executive Board elections
• Contribute to SAOA decisions and strategy

Staff Time (In-Kind Contributions)

Institutions may contribute staff time to support SAOA operations. Contributions may include metadata work, program support, scanning, quality control, or other activities approved by the Executive Board.

Digital Content (In-Kind Contributions)

Institutions may contribute digital content—especially those lacking infrastructure for public sharing. This inclusive membership path is reviewed and approved by the Executive Board.

• Content must align with SAOA Selection Guidelines and follow a formal proposal process.
• Content must follow SAOA Digitization Guidelines.
• Content must not already be publicly available on a stable platform.

To join SAOA, institutions must complete a five-year Participant Commitment Form.

SAOA encourages inquiries from prospective members and seeks to grow an inclusive, collaborative community.

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