Building Institutional Repository Communities Through Collaborative Strategies An exploration of collaboration in the context of the University of Wisconsin and its institutional repository, Lisa Saywell, Digital Repository Librarian /

The Context University of Wisconsin Digital Collections Center  Contains: 214 hours of audio 216,055 citations 1595 finding aids 29,187 images 7,000 books and journals comprised of 1,249,296 pages  Serves: 13 Four-year campuses 13 Two-year campuses Highly decentralized environment

Institutional Repository Vital Statistics  UW System institutional repository  Based on DSpace software  Approx. 1 year old  20 active communities and 15 in process  Contains approx items

An Institutional Repository and the Idea of Collaboration  Desire of the faculty and staff for a collaborative workspace  Collaborative projects as a way to engage stakeholders in exploring the issues of scholarly communication and Open Access  Collaboration and integration as the keys to a successful institutional repository program

Collaborative Workspace--Research My WebSpace A Xythos instance File Storage - My WebSpace allows you to save your files on a server that you can easily access online from anywhere. Web Publishing - My WebSpace supports basic web publishing using a web content folder. File Sharing - Each user of My WebSpace can share a file or folder with an individual or group of individuals.

Collaborative Workspace--Instruction is a collection of software tools enabling instructors to create course web sites with state-of-the-art communication, collaboration, content delivery and student assessment capabilities. can be used to develop stand-alone online courses for distance education, or for creating resource rich web sites to supplement campus courses. Students access course materials within via a standard web browser. A Desire 2 Learn instance

Collaborative Workspace--Developers Wisconsin Federated Resource for Developers (WFR) “The WFR is a catalyst for the development and electronic publication of e-Learning content for education in Wisconsin. It does this by innovatively networking content developers with shared resources and colleagues.”

Stakeholder Involvement— and the Open Access Movement  The digital repository is one way in which the University of Wisconsin is addressing the research community’s need for new outlets in scholarly communication.  offers a promising alternative to the self-archiving of pre-prints and post-prints and provides faculty and staff a fast and efficient method for publication and dissemination of materials such as gray literature, presentations, conference proceedings, and research data.

Stakeholder Involvement— What can do for faculty and staff?  Promising alternative to self-archiving  Fast and efficient “publication” and dissemination of their work  Increased visibility (Googleable)  Time-saving administration of digital content  Usage reports that track use of content  notification of new content  Permanent archiving abilities  Search capabilities

Stakeholder Involvement—Faculty Concerns  Intellectual property rights What is the nature of the content? Sherpa (  Access Who can use the content? How can they use the content? Creative Commons (  Policies Who decides what goes into the repository?  Workload Who does the work? How much time does it take?

Stakeholder Involvement— Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing  Creation of the Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing to facilitate faculty and staff involvement in transforming scholarly communicationOffice of Scholarly Communication and Publishing  Integration of project into this office’s charge and mission

Collaborative Strategies for Institutional Repositories  Harvest and inventory content available on departmental and research center websites  Use library liaisons to discuss and encourage participation in the repository  Create contacts on each campus to coordinate and promote the use of the repository  Coordinate with existing system-wide administrative units  Acquire extant databases from departments and research centers  Assist librarians, faculty, and researchers with self- archiving projects  Integrate the repository into the preservation and access plans for digital publishing projects

Harvest and Inventory Content  Partners: Subject librarians—Engineering Library Colleges, departments and research centers—College of Engineering (COE)  Goals: Add content to and encourage the use of the repository Identify repository needs and uses Create an easy way for faculty and researchers to participate in the repository Highlight the research output of the COE

Utilize Library Liaisons  Partners: Library Liaisons—My Librarian Program Public service librarians Faculty and researchers  Goals: Actively involve public service librarians in the repository project Encourage faculty and staff to create repository communities and collections Generate discussions of the issues involved in scholarly communication and Open Access

Create Campus Contacts  Partners: Campus Library directors Library contacts Campus administrators Learning Technologists  Goals: Customize messages to the needs of individual campuses Empower campus libraries to generate interest in the creation of communities and collections in the repository Distribute the administration of repository communities and collections

Coordinate with Existing Administrative Units  Partners: System-wide administrative units— Women’s Studies Consortium Subject librarians— Women’s Studies Librarian Faculty and researchers  Goals: Facilitate the creation of communities across campuses through a centralized organizational structure Gain administrative support for the repository Highlight the materials created by the unit

Acquire Existing Databases  Partners: Departments and research centers with existing data--CSUMCCSUMC Learning Technologists and IT contacts for these units Subject Librarians  Goals: Add content to the repository Preserve the digital assets of the university Facilitate easy deposit of the materials Provide centralized access to the university’s research resources Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures Photo Gallery

Assist Self-Archiving Projects  Partners: Departments and research centers— Center for Limnology Center for Limnology Faculty and staff Departmental Libraries—Center for Limnology LibraryCenter for Limnology Library  Goals: Support self-archiving projects on campus Help libraries maintain their pre-print, post-print, and reprint collections Raise awareness of the Open Access movement

Integrate with Digital Publishing Projects  Partners: Digital publishing initiatives University Press Office of Scholarly Communication and Publishing  Goals Assist in preserving and providing access to digital and print publications Encourage use of the repository for digital assets created by the university Integration of the repository into the digital publishing workflow

Concluding Thoughts.....  Collaboration comes in all shapes and sizes.  Having limited resources breeds collaboration.  If you build it, there is no guarantee they will come, but if you build it together they just might hang around.