1 Building a Business Case for the Institutional Repository Tim Tamminga, The Berkeley Electronic Press ALA Midwinter

2 The Elements of the Business Case Determining Benefits/Value propositions –Redefining the IR –Why should the University acquire an IR? –How does the IR help fulfill the goals of the institution? Determining objectives –What are our needs? –Describing the scope of the IR –Benchmarks –Measuring success Time frames and milestones Determining total cost of ownership –Why does your solution bring back value to the university?

3 Redefining the IR: An institutional repository is a suite of services for managing and disseminating digital materials created by your community members, as well as a highly visible, centralized research portal for all academic output on your campus

4 Why should the University acquire an IR?  Simply put, because the IR helps fulfill the goals of the institution

5 How does the IR help fulfill the goals of the institution? The IR raises institutional visibility and relevance The IR gives back to the community The IR provides services to enhance scholarship on campus

6 The IR makes content easily available to researchers around the world –This amplifies your university's global impact –And provides valuable scholarship to the global community of scholars and researchers The IR gives back to the community

7 "The Harvard Law School faculty produces some of the most exciting, groundbreaking scholarship in the world…Our decision to embrace ‘open access’ means that people everywhere can benefit from the ideas generated here at the law school.” Elena Kagan, Dean of the Harvard Law School, Harvard Law School News, May 7, 2008.

8 The IR gives back to the community

9 The IR forges and facilitates partnerships outside of the institution The IR gives back to the community

10 The IR forges and facilitates partnerships outside of the institution

11 The IR is a vehicle for integrating knowledge and resources The IR gives back to the community

12 The IR is a vehicle for integrating knowledge and resources

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14 How does the IR help fulfill the goals of the institution? The IR raises institutional visibility and relevance The IR gives back to the community The IR provides services to enhance scholarship on campus

15 The IR highlights your institutional expertise The IR raises institutional visibility and relevance

16 The IR provides a tangible symbol of academic quality for investors The IR raises institutional visibility and relevance

17 The IR provides a tangible symbol of academic quality for investors Reaching potential funders –The IR delivers valuable subject specific research (under the university’s brand) to donors/funders: State Legislatures Foundations Research Grants from outside sources

18 The IR provides a tangible symbol of quality and accountability for investors “The folks who pay our bills need to and want to know how those investments in the university are benefiting them. Unlike most other enterprises, universities do a lousy job of letting their investors know what they are getting from their investment. It’s time to let the light of universities shine and allow digital repositories to entice additional funding.” David Shulenburger, Vice President for Academic Affairs, National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), in the closing keynote of the SPARC meeting, November 2008.

19 How does the IR help fulfill the goals of the institution? The IR raises institutional visibility and relevance The IR gives back to the community The IR provides services to enhance scholarship on campus

20 The IR provides services to enhance scholarship on campus   ♦ The IR can be a key strategy for enhancing the research focus of your institution  ♦ The IR allows the institution to examine and define itself Research Faculty Recognition Student Recruitment and Retention

21  Benchmarks/measuring success Sense of history / institutional memory Improves the quality of faculty and student research because it promotes healthy competition The IR allows the institution to examine and define itself

22 The IR allows the institution to examine and define itself “Socrates once said ‘an unexamined life is not worth living.’ Universities fail in this regard. Institutional repositories should be the means by which a university examines itself.” Quoted from a speech by Robert Koob, Provost and Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Cal Poly, Opening Remarks, Putting Knowledge to Work: Building an Institutional Repository for Your Campus, October 10 th, 2008

23 Research Faculty Development Student Recruitment and Retention The IR provides services to enhance scholarship on campus   ♦ The IR provides tools for collaboration  ♦ The IR provides opportunity for faculty recognition

24  “The IR enables the faculty member to showcase his/her intellectual output without restraint. It is an "intellectual GPS." IR bridges academic silos and enables interdisciplinary research and collaboration.” Quoted from a speech by Brian Kennelly, Chair, Dept of Modern Languages & Literatures, Faculty Perspective on the Importance of an Institutional Repository, Putting Knowledge to Work: Building an Institutional Repository for Your Campus, October 10th, 2008 Collaboration and Recognition for faculty

25 The IR provides services to enhance scholarship on campus  Research Faculty Recognition Recruitment and Retention ♦ More visibility means more relevance, retention and recruitment of faculty AND students ♦ The IR is a selling point to prospective students as well as alumni

26 The IR attracts top students

27 The IR is a selling point to prospective students as well as alumni  “Cal Poly's President Baker sees the repository as a place to show off Cal Poly students' senior portfolios. He got excited when he understood that he could point prospects and their parents to the portfolios as examples of what their student can accomplish at Cal Poly.” Quoted from a speech by Michael Miller, Dean of Library Services, Cal Poly, Closing Remarks, Putting Knowledge to Work: Building an Institutional Repository for Your Campus, October 10th, 2008.

28 How can we help YOU make a business case? Further resources to come IR days Campus presentations Let us know!

29 Marilyn Moody, Dean of Libraries at Boise State University, also did a presentation titled Research Distribution Matters: The Boise State University Strategy. To view it click on the link below: