Repositories 101 Morag Greig and William Nixon, University of Glasgow

Outline Repositories at Glasgow: some background context Developing a repository: before you start… Setting up repositories Policies and legal issues Sustainability

Background and Experience First Glasgow repository set up in 2001 Both worked with the JISC funded DAEDALUS project from Repository Managers: Advocacy and Service Development, which has continued Oversaw the transition from project to our service live service (2006) Involved in the Glasgow Theses Mandate and University Publications Policy (2008) Implementing the University’s Policy (2009)

Why Repositories 101? A beginning-level or basic course number taught at colleges and universities in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United States. Baseline review of institutional repositories including a definition, developments, set-up, software and policies Not like Orwell’s Room 101!

Before you start…

What is a repository? A mechanism for managing and storing digital content May have a subject or institutional focus Supports research, learning and administrative processes Uses open standards Can include a wide range of content for a variety of purposes and users Offer institutions the possibility of managing and preserving content Can help achieve the goal of open access to research

Open access driver OA literature is ‘digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions’ OA means free availability of the contents of repositories to all Key initial driver for repositories in the UK (and elsewhere) However, additional drivers for repositories mean that OA is not always the only goal and not all content in them is necessarily freely available

Why set up a repository? Range of benefits for different groups of stakeholders: –Researchers –Institutions –The global community Important to consider why you are setting up a repository and what you are trying to achieve. This will not be the same for all institutions Important to work with the needs of your institution

Benefits for researchers Increased visibility of research output Potentially increased impact of publications Ability to manage and store research and associated digital content Compliance with funding body OA policies Possibility of automatic generation of publications lists Information about usage of papers in the repository

Benefits for the institution Improves visibility and impact of the research carried out at your institution Coherent display of research – acts as a shop window – attracting more high quality students and researchers Possibility of interaction with other University systems Potential for managing returns to research assessment type exercises

Changing the culture at your institution Widely recognised that the real challenge for repositories is not technical – it is promoting cultural change at your institution Plan your advocacy campaign Buy-in from stakeholders is critical – not just academics, but also university management and also potentially administrative staff Cultural change takes time, repetition and patience – don’t get disheartened if things don’t happen overnight!

The message Will vary depending on your audience Academics may be less concerned about ‘the serials crisis’ than you think While academics accept the high level reasons why OA is a good thing they need to see ‘what’s in it for me?’ University management will have different drivers – most likely to be those connected with future research assessment, compliance with funding body policies etc.

Strategic planning Important – but no amount of planning can substitute for actually getting content! Useful if you can establish an agreed primary purpose for the institutional repository. However, in reality most repositories serve a multitude of functions Critical to consider existing systems and how you can work with them

Making a business case: costs What are the costs involved? Computer hardware – possible to quantify Software – may be open source – no cost to buy software but associated costs of maintenance, development, upgrades Software – hosted solution – quantifiable cost Staff costs – variable, but likely to be biggest cost involved

Staff costs Start up costs likely to be higher than ongoing costs However, ongoing staffing of the repository is necessary May need to factor in recruitment of staff Robinson, Mary. (2007). Institutional Repositories: Staff and Skills requirement (available on the SHERPA web site)

Institutional benefits Cost v strategic benefits –Benefits of a repository are more easily expressed in strategic than financial terms Comparators –Costs of other institutional information systems Integration within the institution –Critical so that repository is not seen as stand alone project

Making a benefits case Identify stakeholders, their needs and aspirations Clarify how the repository addresses these stakeholders and their needs in the local and national context Link to long-term, added value and high-level institutional goals.

Defining the scope of your repository Important to clearly define the scope of your repository and the content you will accept However, experience shows that content types may need to be added as you go along Possible content types can include: – Journal articles – Books & chapters – Conference & workshop papers – Theses & Dissertations – Unpublished reports & working papers – Datasets – Learning objects – Multimedia & audio-visual materials – Software – Patents – Special items

Metadata only records? Initial focus of repositories was full text Pragmatic reasons for including some metadata only records – especially requirements of a publications database if repository is serving as this Pros and cons to including metadata only records in your repository

Before you start: checklist Have you outlined and documented the purpose and drivers for institutional repository establishment in your institution? Have you decided how to position your institutional repository within your wider information environment? What is the target content of the repository? Do any of your departments already have a repository or other digital stores of publications?

Policies and legal issues

Policies –Content policies –Submission policies –Data re-use policies –Preservation policies –Take down issues –Embargoes Legal issues: –Copyright/publisher policies –Licenses

Sustainability of your repository Some suggestions

Sustainability Technical issues Content mediation Ongoing advocacy

Technical issues Check that a back up procedure is in place If technical issues are dealt with by a separate department (e.g. IT) have a named contact (if possible) for ad hoc trouble shooting and support A service level agreement specifying levels of support can be helpful, though not essential Upgrades to software require considerably more support – need to plan in advance and secure staff resource to carry this out

Content mediation Will be required regardless of what type of approach to deposit you are taking (self/mediated/mix) Self deposited items may require more checking Time required per deposit will be variable – some items require more attention than others. Factor in time for copyright checking if you are carrying this out on behalf of authors

Advocacy The work of a repository advocate is never done! Building up good levels of deposit takes time and ongoing advocacy Advocacy role will evolve and can be extended to offer advice in related areas e.g. funding body OA polices, research assessment exercise data collection etc. Consider progressing towards some sort of institutional mandate

Some suggestions to aid sustainability Get to know the key people in your institution so you are included in any plans that might affect the repository (research administrators, staff implementing/developing related systems etc.) Get staff within the library involved with the repository and interested so that knowledge does not just reside with a couple of people Try to work with existing systems and procedures rather than expecting people to adopt an entirely new way of doing things Get the ear of senior management so that you are taken seriously!

Planning for the future What is the anticipated growth of your repository? Does your technical architecture support that growth? Are you running a pilot project or a production service? If the former, who, when, if and how will it transfer to a production service? How will you get data out of the repository when the next best thing comes along? Which digital formats can the repository commit to preserve in the longer-term? Is the repository collecting author source formats? Is there a viable action plan for monitoring the formats stored in the repository and the preservation risks associated with those formats? Do you know which tools are available to do this?

Summary Lots to think about when setting up a repository! But don’t get too overwhelmed in the detail Choices you make will be based on the needs of your institution locally, but there are people in the repository community who can help