Integrating the IR into strategic goals at the University of Toledo: case study

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this case study is to demonstrate a current model, as well as explore future models, for integrating institutional repositories (IRs) in higher education goals at the University of Toledo. Design/methodology/approachThis is a case study that uses literature review as an exploratory framework for new approaches while reflecting on existing literature to present the current practical framework for using IRs. FindingsThe digital environment has pushed academic institutions toward new strategies for curating their record on scholarship and preserving their heritage collections, using their IRs. Innovative approaches are also vital to curating the IR content digitally to facilitate access to those contents in ways that was not possible a few decades ago. Surveys and existing literature point to increasing uses of IRs despite abstinence from considering open access for scholarly activity among faculty concerned about copyright, plagiarism and sustainability. Staffing and funding IR initiatives are important factors in sustaining the curation of scholarship in the digital environment. Practical implicationsIRs with open access publishing, expert gallery and digital library features place academic libraries in a central role as partners in digital scholarship. Originality/valueThis case study presents an original approach to incorporating the IR into the curation of digital content while also considering potential uses of knowledge management approaches for data and knowledge sharing in an academic environment.

Repository for academic documents, algorithms and data: A utility in an educational context

“…Open Access Institutional Repositories (OAIR) (Farida, Tjakraatmadja, Firman & Basuki, 2015) is one model proposed for constructing a repository with an academic focus; its three basic pillars are focused on cooperation, technologies and processes. There is a noticeable focus on comprehensive repositories in institutions of higher education; in fact, this has pushed academic institutions toward new strategies to preserve their heritage collections (Sabharwal & Natal, 2017).…”

Whose Research is it Anyway? Academic Social Networks Versus Institutional Repositories

“…The literature on researchers' non-use of IRs is quite abundant, including Laasko, Lindman, Shen, Nyman, and Björk (2017), who nicely summarize the research to date on this topic, citing lack of awareness; concerns about copyright, quality, and version control; and difficulty of use/difficulty maintaining multiple systems. Others on this topic include Foster and Gibbons (2005), Harnad (2006), Xia and Sun (2007), McDowell (2007), Davis and Connolly (2007), Jantz and Wilson (2008), Salo (2008), Covey (2011), Yang and Li (2015), Otto (2016), and Sabharwal & Natal (2017). While some solutions are proposed for increasing researcher buy-in and deposits into IRs, none identify the process used in the current study.…”

Developing an institutional repository using Digital Commons

“…The IR manager, who is also an engineering librarian with reference, instruction and collection development responsibilities, was appointed chair. Managing a repository by committee is not unusual; it is common for smaller academic libraries that use hosted repository solutions to be unable to devote a full-time position to managing a repository (Sabharwal and Natal, 2017).…”