Institutional or Subject Repositories Les Carr

Academic Colleagues A group of academics or researchers of the same discipline who work together at the same location.

…form a school… Organisationally they form a school (or department) with policies and strategies to research and teach their subject, according to its standards and principles.

…within an institution Together with scholars and researchers from different disciplines (other schools, representing different attitudes and practices) they are part of a single institution which manages and administers them in common..

Ties that Bind An institution is a legal entity, which has administrative and contractual relationships with the schools and the individual researchers and academics. It controls pay and advancement, and administers funds on behalf of the government and other research agencies.

Wider Ties: the Community Researchers from different institutions speak a common language and engage in common practices and activities: conferences, workshops, projects and journals.

Filling Archives Researchers from the same field have a theoretical (academic?) interest in creating an archive of their shared literature...

Filling Archives …but in practice only a weak mechanism (based on academic goodwill) to ensure that they are filled.

Filling Archives Researchers from the same institution have a theoretical interest in creating an archive of their shared literature (to promote their institution and to increase their standing)…

Filling Archives …and an effective contractual and administrative infrastructure to ensure that the archives are filled.

Yes but? What about arxiv.org? –The High Energy Physics subject archive was the first recognised eprint archive. No other community has managed to emulate its success. Aren’t subject-based archives simpler to manage? –In theory, yes. For a start, all the researchers in the same community share the same vocabulary and agree on the same research and dissemination standards. By contrast, institutions are a broad church, whose incompatible ideas about science must be accommodated at extra cost.