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Arca Service Support

Arca annual service support fees cover the yearly costs of centralised coordination, software hosting and support, and costs associated with governance, administration, and communications. Service support fees are assessed and confirmed on an annual basis by the Arca Advisory Committee. The 51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31.

Following are details regarding Arca fees for 51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN Partner Libraries and for Members of Non-51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN Consortia.

Fee Summary (2025-26)

  • Service Support fee: $6,085
    • Includes 150 GB storage, and support from the Arca Admin Centre
  • Additional storage: $399 per 500 GB
  • Set-up fee (one-time for for new sites; does not apply to 51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN partner libraries): $1,000
  • Advanced support: Charged on a cost recovery basis. 2025-26 rates:
    • Staff: $68.16/hr
    • Manager: $105.27/hr

Loupe participants pay $2,205 for Service Support, which includes 50 GB of storage. Any additional fees are the same as those paid by full members.

Details for 51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN Partner Libraries

Service Support:ÌýThe service support fee covers:

  • All the Admin Centre responsibilities foundÌýin theÌý.
  • 150 GB of storage per site.

Late joins are invoiced pro-rata based on their start date.

Set-up:ÌýInitial set-up costs are covered by 51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN for 51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN partner libraries.

Additional storage:ÌýAdditional storage can be purchased in 500 GB blocks.ÌýStorage charges are invoiced annually with the Arca Service Support Fee. Mid-year storage increases are charged pro-rata, and will be invoiced as part ofÌýthe members' next 51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN invoice.Ìý

Advanced Support:ÌýArca participating sites will be charged on a cost-recovery basis for Administrative Centre work exceeding basic support (e.g. complex migrations of content, in-depth metadata analysis, and site-specific troubleshooting) that requires significant focused time from the Arca Office, or extra time from discoverygarden. Sites will be alerted before any advanced support work is embarked upon.

Withdrawal:ÌýIn the event of withdrawal from Arca, participating sites must provide written 30-day notice and a withdrawal fee, which is dependent on the manner and format of content export and based on a quote from discoverygarden.

Details for Members of Non-51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN Consortia

NOTE:ÌýTo ensure Arca remains sustainable, a single Arca invoice will be issued to each consortiumÌýfor all its Arca participants, itemised per institution.

Set-up:ÌýThere is a one-time set-up fee upon joining the service to cover Arca Admin Centre and discoverygarden costs for child site set-up.

Service Support:ÌýMembers of non-51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN consortia that have been approved by the Arca Advisory Committee and have met the requirements for participation as described in the Arca Benefits & Responsibilities, pay the same annual service support fee as 51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN partner libraries.

Additional storage:ÌýMembers of non-51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN consortia pay the same storage costs as 51ºÚÁÏÍø ELN partner libraries.

Advanced Support:ÌýArca participating sites will be charged on a cost-recovery basis for Administrative Centre work exceeding basic support (e.g. complex migrations of content, in-depth metadata analysis, and site-specific troubleshooting) that requires significant focused time from the Arca Office, or extra time from discoverygarden. Sites will be alerted before any advanced support work is embarked upon.

Withdrawal:ÌýIn the event of withdrawal from Arca, participating sites must provide written 30-day notice and a withdrawal fee, which is dependent on the manner and format of content export and based on a quote from discoverygarden.

Loupe

Sites that participate in Loupe share their repository with other organizations, and have an initial storage allowance of 50 GB.

Service Support: Loupe participants pay a lower service support fee, as they are members of a shared site.

Advanced support, additional storage, and withdrawal fees and conditions are the same as above.

Hosting and Data Storage

Arca is hosted in the Simon Fraser University (SFU) Cloud, a state-of-the-art hosting facility located in the SFU Data Centre at the Burnaby campus in Burnaby, B.C. The cost of storage in Arca is the amount set by SFU Cloud; the Arca service does not charge any additional fees for storage.

Hosting in the SFU Cloud allows Arca to take advantage of SFU’s high-bandwidth network, advanced data protection, and highly skilled IT professionals; and to leverage the monetary benefits of running infrastructure at scale with the favourable pricing granted to educational institutions.

SFU Cloud is a highly redundant and reliable environment that is in-line with the SFU Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity plan. Arca is backed up daily to an off-site facility, and backups are retained according to a retention schedule. For more information:

Since the Arca platform is also supported by Canadian firm discoverygarden, an Islandora service provider located in Prince Edward Island, hosting Arca locally in 51ºÚÁÏÍø means that all Arca operations, software, support and hosting are in Canada, compliant with 51ºÚÁÏÍø Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy legislation.

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Questions about the Arca fees? Contact the Arca Administrative Centre.