The Institutional Repository: Benefits and Challenges

Contents: chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4 | chapter 5

Foreword

by Pamela Bluh and Cindy Hepfer

Despite the abundance of information on IRs, librarians consistently show an interest in learning more about their promises and pitfalls, and they seek practical advice on creating, maintaining, implementing, and marketing them. | more

Chapter 1

Institutional Repositories: The Promises of Yesterday, The Promises of Tomorrow

by Greg Tananbaum

As institutional repositories (IRs) reach their adolescence, the timing is appropriate to take a step back and assess their development. To do so requires asking a series of questions:

  • What were the initial promises of the IR concept?
  • What expectations were there for the IR and how well has the reality matched these expectations?
  • How have IRs impacted scholarly communication?

In short, how did IRs reach their present state of development, how bumpy has the road been, and what does this portend for the future? | purchase chapter (pdf download, $9, 11 pages)

Chapter 2

Approaches to Marketing an Institutional Repository to Campus

by Marísa L. Ramírez and Michael D. Miller

Basic marketing principles and how to apply them to marketing an institutional repository within a higher education setting. | purchase chapter (pdf download, $9, 38 pages)

Chapter 3

Perpetual Beta: Assessing the Institutional Repository

by Allison Sivak and Leah Vanderjagt

A thorough review and discussion of assessment and evaluation criteria for repositories based on recent research. | purchase chapter (pdf download, $9, 14 pages)

Chapter 4

Institutional Repositories, Libraries and the Academy

by Marilyn S. Billings

Many research and educational institutions are finding the promises of creating and maintaining an IR alluring, and in many cases libraries are intimately, often centrally, involved in this effort. | purchase chapter (.pdf download, $9, 10 pages)

Chapter 5

Implementing Open Access Policies Using Institutional Repositories

by Ellen Finnie Duranceau and Sue Kriegsman

Pros and cons of establishing an institutional open access policy within the framework of the IR. | download chapter (pdf, free, 23 pages)

About This Publication

This publication is being presented as an online-plus-print publication. The chapters will be published online individually as downloadable pdf documents. Each chapter will be for sale for $9. When the entire book is complete, a print-on-demand publication containing all the chapters will be published and will be available through the ALA Online Store.

Other ALCTS Resources on Institutional Repositories