Institutional research repositories are part of a wider policy and operational framework of repositories, such as learning object repositories and data repositories. They are becoming an essential part of research infrastructure.
1. Conclusions: libraries are the ultimate repository of knowledge
- Institutional research repositories are viable. They give authors enhanced exposure and enable improved institutional efficiency.
- There are a range of technical options, depending on institutional need
- The technical solution is a minor part of the process; the real challenge is policy and process culture change
- mandated or voluntary deposit?
- tie into PBRF reporting?
- making submission as painless as possible
- The academic library is the natural home of research repositories, with strong links to research offices
- safe and trusted custodian
- understand archiving and preservation needs
- part of the information infrastructure
- Repositories are most naturally institution-based, with national resource discovery and discipline slices
- open standards enable national and international interoperability
- common metadata schemata enable discovery
2. Recommendations: enable research discovery through multiple pathways
- Develop a business case to government for institutional research repositories as an essential enabler of enriched scholarly communication
- Seek commitment from institutions to fund demonstrator repository projects, and give them support to build their repository capability
- Ask the National Library to develop a national research resource discovery service that harvests from the demonstrator repositories
- Seek opportunities to learn from, collaborate with, and contribute to Australian repository and interoperability initiatives
- Develop strategies to make institutional research repositories a permanent and sustainable part of the national research infrastructure
