Institutional repository

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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Repository (publishing). (Discuss) Proposed since August 2011.

An Institutional repository is an online locus for collecting, preserving, and disseminating - in digital form - the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution.[1][2][3][4]

For a university, this would include materials such as research journal articles, before (preprints) and after (postprints) undergoing peer review, and digital versions of theses and dissertations, but it might also include other digital assets generated by normal academic life, such as administrative documents, course notes, or learning objects.

The four main objectives for having an institutional repository are:

  • to provide open access to institutional research output by self-archiving it;
  • to create global visibility for an institution's scholarly research;
  • to collect content in a single location;
  • to store and preserve other institutional digital assets, including unpublished or otherwise easily lost ("grey") literature (e.g., theses or technical reports).

Contents

[edit] Origins

The origin of the notion of an "institutional repository" [IR] are twofold:

IRs are partly linked to the notion of digital interoperability, which is in turn linked to the Open Archives Initiative (OAI) and its Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH). The OAI in turn had its roots in the notion of a "Universal Preprint Service,"[5] since superseded by the open access movement.
IRs are partly linked to the notion of a digital library - i.e., collecting, housing, classifying, cataloguing, curating, preserving, and providing access to digital content, analogous with the library's conventional function of collecting, housing classifying, curating, preserving and providing access to analog content.

[edit] Features and Benefits of an Institutional Repository

According to the Directory of Open Access Repositories (DOAR) data [6] and the Repository 66 map at December 2010,[7] the majority of IRs are built using Open Source software.

While the most popular Open Source and hosted applications share the advantages that IRs bring to institutions, such as increased visibility and impact of research output, interoperability and availability of technical support, IR advocates tend to favour Open Source solutions for the reason that they are by their nature more compatible with the ideology of the freedom and independence of the internet from commercial interests. On the other hand, some institutions opt for outsourced commercial solutions.

In her briefing paper[8] on open access repositories, advocate Alma Swan lists the following as the benefits that repositories bring to institutions:

  • Opening up outputs of the institution to a worldwide audience;
  • Maximizing the visibility and impact of these outputs as a result;
  • Showcasing the institution to interested constituencies – prospective staff, prospective students and other stakeholders;
  • Collecting and curating digital output;
  • Managing and measuring research and teaching activities;
  • Providing a workspace for work-in-progress, and for collaborative or large-scale projects;
  • Enabling and encouraging interdisciplinary approaches to research;
  • Facilitating the development and sharing of digital teaching materials and aids, and
  • Supporting student endeavours, providing access to theses and dissertations and a location for the development of e-portfolios.

[edit] Repository Software

There are a number of open-source software packages for running a repository including:

There are also hosted (proprietary) software services, including:

There is a mashup indicating the worldwide locations of open access digital repositories. This project is called Repository 66[1] and is based on data provided by ROAR and the OpenDOAR service developed by the SHERPA.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Van de Sompel, H & Lagoze, C. (2000) The Santa Fe Convention of the Open Archives Initiative. D-lib Magazine, 6 (2)
  2. ^ Tansley, Robert & Harnad, Stevan (2000) Eprints.org Software for Creating Institutional and Individual Open Archives. D-lib Magazine, 6 (10)
  3. ^ Harnad, S. (2005) The Implementation of the Berlin Declaration on Open Access. D-lib Magazine, 11 (3)
  4. ^ Crow, R. (2006) The Case for Institutional Repositories: A SPARC Position Paper. Discussion Paper. Scholarly Publication and Academic Resources Coalition, Washington, D.C.
  5. ^ Van de Sompel, H & Lagoze, C. (2000) The Santa Fe Convention of the Open Archives Initiative. D-lib Magazine, 6 (2)
  6. ^ http://www.opendoar.org/onechart.php?cID=&ctID=&rtID=&clID=&lID=&potID=&rSoftWareName=&search=&groupby=r.rSoftWareName&orderby=Tally%20DESC&charttype=pie&width=600&height=300&caption=Usage%20of%20Open%20Access%20Repository%20Software%20-%20Worldwide
  7. ^ http://maps.repository66.org/
  8. ^ http://www.openscholarship.org/upload/docs/application/pdf/2009-01/open_access_institutional_repositories.pdf

[edit] External links

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