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How to share your language resources

Contribution of resources by organisations

Contribution of resources by individual researchers

Steps to follow for the contribution of resources to META-SHARE

Notice and Take Down Policy



Contribution of resources by organisations

Organisations wishing to contribute resources to META-SHARE need to decide whether they are going to set up a Repository or to participate only as Depositors, storing their resources in one of the Hosting Repositories (see Types of META-SHARE Members). 

In both cases, they need to endorse the META-SHARE Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by signing the META-SHARE Membership Form which is found at the end of the MoU, after the Appendices. The MoU stipulates the basic principles, code of conduct and modi operandi of the META-SHARE members and regulates their rights and obligations for LR sharing and exchange. 

After signing the MoU, the organisation needs to follow the steps described below.

Contribution of resources by individual researchers


  • who are affiliated to an organisation that is already member of META-SHARE:

You deposit your resources "under the umbrella" of the specific organisation. Therefore, you need to register, contact the person responsible for the META-SHARE repository in your organisation, become a member of an Editor Group and then deposit your resources.

  • who are affiliated to an organisation that is not a member of META-SHARE:

First of all, you should investigate whether your organisation intends to set up a META-SHARE repository. If yes, then register, contact the person responsible for the META-SHARE repository in your organisation, become a member of an Editor Group and then deposit your resources. If not, then follow the instructions for non-affiliated depositors below.

  • who are not affiliated to an organisation:

If you wish to deposit your own resources as an individual, please read the META-SHARE Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Fill in the Membership Form at the end of the MoU, print, sign, scan and email it as a PDF document to the META-SHARE Coordinating Committee at meta-share-cc@meta-share.eu. Upon notification by the META-SHARE Coordinating Committee, follow the steps below. For additional information please contact META-SHARE at info@meta-share.eu.

Steps to follow for the contribution of resources to META-SHARE

The steps to follow when contributing resources to META-SHARE are the following:

1. Sign the Depositor's Agreement

The Depositor's Agreement is the legal document that precedes the deposition of LRs in META-SHARE. It contains important information regarding the terms and conditions of depositing Language Resources in and making them available through the META-SHARE Network. Any LR provider wishing to contribute his/her resources to META-SHARE needs to sign it. It is downloadable from here: META-SHARE Depositor's Agreement

2.  Choose the appropriate licence for the resource

In order to facilitate the selection of the appropriate licence for each resource, a complete list of available licences has been created.

Please note that we recommend

  • a.  Creative Commons licenses (see a tabular overview)

  • b.  META-SHARE No Redistribution licenses (see a tabular overview)

3. Registration

Register yourself as a user at a META-SHARE node, selecting one of the nodes presented at the bottom of the page.

In tandem we will create an Editor Group (under whatever name you tell us) to which you will belong after having registered. This Editor Group has the right to create, update and modify the metadata records with the description of the LRs to be deposited.

In the case of Organisation - Member, the Editor Group normally consists of several people who will edit the metadata records; therefore, the Organisation should send us their respective names, so that we can give them the appropriate rights.

In the case of individual deposition of resources, the Editor group normally has only one member (the Depositor). If, however, an individual depositor needs to allow more people to edit the metadata records, then they should send us their respective names, so that we can give them the appropriate rights.

Please note that this does not have to do with who has access to view the resources and their metadata descriptions – it refers to the rights to modify them.

4. Add metadata description to the resource

In order for a resource to be shared in META-SHARE, it has to be described with the appropriate metadata. META-SHARE comes with a metadata editor which guides the provider through the process of LRs' description.

Once registered, you need to login in order to have access to the tool. You go to Manage resources, select Manage your own resources and then click on the Add resource button on the upper right. The tool starts to guide you through the process of resource description. Please note that there are obligatory fields that need to be filled in, marked with an asterisk (*).

5. Upload the resource to META-SHARE

Once described, resources can be uploaded to META-SHARE through the tool. To upload the resource itself, you click on the button Upload resource and follow the instructions on the screen, which guide you through the process.


Relevant FAQs

  • Contribution of LRs 
  • Uploading LRs

Notice and Take Down Policy

If a rights holder is concerned that s/he has found Language Resources (LRs) on one of the META-SHARE repositories, for which s/he has not given permission, granted a licence or is not covered by a limitation or exception in national law, such rights holder is asked to contact META-SHARE through the META-SHARE Legal Helpdesk at helpdesk-legal@meta-share.eu in writing, stating the following:

1.  His/Her contact details;

2.  The full bibliographic details of the LR;

3.  The exact and full URL where s/he found the LR;

4.  Proof that s/he is the rights holder and a statement that, under penalty of perjury, s/he is the rights holder or an authorised representative.

Upon receipt of notification the ‘Notice and Takedown’ procedure is then invoked as follows:

1.  META-SHARE will acknowledge receipt of the complaint by email or letter and will make an initial assessment of the validity and plausibility of the complaint.

2.  Upon receipt of a valid complaint, the LR will be temporarily removed from the META-SHARE catalogue pending an agreed solution.

3.  META-SHARE will contact the member who deposited the material. The META-SHARE member will be notified that the material is subject to a complaint, under what allegations, and will be encouraged to assuage the complaints concerned.

4.  The complainant and the META-SHARE member will be encouraged to resolve the issue swiftly and amicably and to the satisfaction of both parties, with the following possible outcomes:

a.  The LR is replaced on the META-SHARE inventory unchanged.

b.  The LR is replaced on the META-SHARE inventory with changes.

c.  The LR is permanently removed from the META-SHARE inventory.

5.  If the META-SHARE member and the complainant are unable to agree to a solution, the LR will remain unavailable through the META-SHARE inventory until a time when a resolution has been reached.


Related pages

  • How to setup your repository
  • How to access the language resources
  • How to share your language resources
  • Forum

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