Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Campus & Community

SURFACE Repository Surpasses One Million Downloads

Tuesday, February 17, 2015, By Pamela Whiteley McLaughlin
Share

In December 2014, Syracuse University Libraries’ SURFACE repository surpassed its one-millionth download, just four years after its launch in October 2010. Items downloaded on that historic day spanned the disciplines and represented 10 SU schools and colleges, University Archives, Syracuse University Libraries, the Slutzker Center and Syracuse University Administration.

SURFACE screen shotSURFACE is a full-text, multimedia online database that provides global, open access to the work of Syracuse University faculty and researchers. Among a number of benefits, SURFACE increases the visibility of authors’ works, maximizes the impact of research conducted at Syracuse University and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration. SURFACE is one of over 2,700 open access repositories worldwide.

In an average month, researchers from over 150 countries download materials from SURFACE. Almost half of visits to the repository come from outside of the U.S. The 11,000-plus items in SURFACE have been downloaded more than 450,000 times in the past year alone, a testament to the usefulness and impact of this open access repository.

Isidor Wallimann, a visiting professor at the Maxwell School, is co-author of “Genocide and the Modern Age,” one of the items downloaded on the day of the millionth download. An expert on social policy, Wallimann has embraced the use of SURFACE to disseminate his work to “areas of the world that have little access to physical books.” He says, “SURFACE is a great program and I am very thankful for it, since it allows the entire world to partake of knowledge irrespective (almost) of income or wealth.  A real contribution to democratization and treating knowledge and education as a public good.”

Senior Professional Writing Instructor Jonna Gilfus’ dissertation, “Political Emotions: Toward a Fresh Perspective on Collective Emotion in Composition Work,” was also among the one-millionth group. In explaining her decision to use SURFACE, Gilfus says, “I really wanted to make my work accessible to anyone who might find it interesting. When I am notified about the number of readers who have downloaded my work, I’m glad to know that it is useful to others, not just sitting on a shelf (or in a microfiche drawer) collecting dust.”

SURFACE can accommodate a wide range of print and multimedia content, including articles, journals, newsletters, books and book chapters, theses and dissertations, conference proceedings, working papers, reports, presentations, reviews, audio and video. Eleven of Syracuse University’s schools and colleges are using SURFACE to disseminate their scholarly output. SURFACE is also the official online source for current SU theses and dissertations.

Members of the Syracuse University community are invited to deposit completed scholarly work, work in progress and university-created materials into SURFACE. In addition to preserving the item and providing a permanent link to it, SURFACE content is searchable and accessible worldwide.

Interested in contributing material to SURFACE? Email the SURFACE team at surface@syr.edu for more information.

 

 

  • Author

Pamela Whiteley McLaughlin

  • Recent
  • Two Whitman Students Earn Prestigious AWESOME Scholarship
    Tuesday, June 17, 2025, By News Staff
  • Whitman’s Johan Wiklund Named a Top Scholar Globally for Business Research Publications
    Tuesday, June 17, 2025, By Caroline K. Reff
  • Katsitsatekanoniahkwa Destiny Lazore ’26 Receives Prestigious Udall Scholarship
    Tuesday, June 17, 2025, By Jen Plummer
  • WiSE Hosts the 2025 Norma Slepecky Memorial Lecture and Undergraduate Research Prize Award Ceremony
    Friday, June 13, 2025, By News Staff
  • Inaugural Meredith Professor Faculty Fellows Announced
    Friday, June 13, 2025, By Wendy S. Loughlin

More In Campus & Community

Two Whitman Students Earn Prestigious AWESOME Scholarship

For the first time in the 12-year history of the program, both nominees from the Whitman School of Management have been selected as recipients of the 2025 AWESOME Excellence in Education Scholarship, a prestigious honor awarded to top-performing undergraduate women…

Whitman’s Johan Wiklund Named a Top Scholar Globally for Business Research Publications

The Whitman School of Management’s Distinguished Professor Johan Wiklund was recently listed as one of the most prolific business and economic research scholars globally, according to “What We Know About the Science of Science in Business and Economics? Insights From…

Katsitsatekanoniahkwa Destiny Lazore ’26 Receives Prestigious Udall Scholarship

Katsitsatekanoniahkwa Destiny Lazore, a rising senior communication and rhetorical studies major in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and political science major in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Arts and Sciences (with a…

Inaugural Meredith Professor Faculty Fellows Announced

Three professors have been named Meredith Professor Faculty Fellows. Part of the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorship Program, the Faculty Fellows program was launched this year. Fellows will work in partnership with the Center for Teaching and Learning…

On Your Mark, Get Set, Go Orange! Faculty and Staff at the Syracuse WorkForce Run (Gallery)

The Syracuse WorkForce Run was held at Onondaga Lake Parkway Tuesday, bringing together workers from across Central New York for a night of food, fun, fitness and friendly competition among area employers. This year’s event, which raised funds for Ronald…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.