How to start:
Setting up the repositories
Iryna Kuchma, eIFL Open Access program manager, eIFL.net
Presented at Open Access: Maximising Research Quality and
Impact workshop, October 22, 2009, the University of Latvia
How to start
Making a Case:
Explaining the need for
a repository
and the expected benefits
Strategic Planning
and Business Cases
Defining Scope
and Planning Checklists
How to start
A repository Steering Group
(or Project Board,
Management Committee,
Working Group, etc.)
undertakes the high level management
of a repository
on behalf of a Higher Education Institution
How to start 2
Involve key stakeholders:
University administrators,
senior management and policy makers;
academic staff,
library staff,
technical support staff,
other support staff
Assumptions 1
Proposed checklist for the implementation
of an Institutional Repository (IR)
Developed by the Department of Library Services
in the University of Pretoria, South Africa
1. Management has approved
the implementation
of an institutional repository (IR) (Proposal)
Assumptions 2
2. A server is in place
to host the IR
3. An IR Manager (project leader)
has been identified
to manage the project –
and will have to do
most of the work initially
Hardware
Repositories can sit on dedicated servers, shared
services or as virtual machines on larger
servers.
In the first few years a basic or moderately
specified server will perform sufficiently.
(Repositories Support Project)
Activity 1
1. Assign a project leader (IR Manager),
and identify members
to form part of the implementation team
(e.g. external consultant,
copyright officer,
metadata specialist/ head cataloguer,
digitization specialist,
2-3 subject librarians, IT etc.)
Activity 2
2. Identify 1 to 4 champions
to work with initially.
Involve them in your meetings
and make them part
of the implementation team
Activity 3
3. Conduct a needs analysis
& compile a needs analysis report
Activity 4
4. Evaluate available software
and decide on which software to use
5. Join existing mailing lists
Activity 5
6. Start thinking of a name for the IR
The planning checklists 1
(adaptation from the Repository Support Project, the UK:
http://www.rsp.ac.uk/)
Here are the questions to ask yourself:
1. What is an institutional repository
and what does it mean to you?
2. Have you outlined and documented
the purpose and drivers for institutional repository
establishment in your institution?
3. Have you defined your vision and initial goals?
The planning checklists 2
4. Have you decided how to position your
institutional repository within your wider
information environment?
5. What is the target content of the repository?
6. Do you have an institution wide intellectual
property rights policy?
The planning checklists 3
7. Do any of your Departments
already have other digital stores of
publications?
How will you manage duplication, transfer of
resources and metadata, etc.?
8. Does your institution have
an information management strategy?
The planning checklists 4
9. Have you defined
roles and responsibilities
for your institutional repository development?
10. What sort of statistics and management
reports will you want from your institutional
repository?
Activity 6
7. Decide on how communities and collections
will be structured within the IR
8. Define the workflows
9. Discuss licensing & copyright issues
with the legal department
Activity 7
10. Compile a business plan
& present to management
11. Register project with IT
& establish a service level agreement
http://www.rsp.ac.uk/pubs/briefingpapers-docs/repoadmin-metadata.pdf
Activity 8
12. Incorporate IR as part of role description for
cataloguers & subject librarians
13. Start working on IR policy, and continue to
document all important decisions taken. Also
address service definition, open access,
copyright, preservation, metadata standards,
digitization, selection criteria etc
The planning checklists 5
11. Have you decided if and how you
will collect usage and item download statistics
for your repository?
Will you use a tool built into your chosen
repository, or an external tool or repository
add-on?
The planning checklists 6
12. Have you decided how your institutional
repository users will be authenticated?
13. Have you defined your metadata
requirements and set up an appropriate
schema?
The planning checklists 7
14. Have you checked your metadata meets the
required standards for interoperability?
15. Have you considered the workflows
within your institutional repository
and set up appropriate mechanisms
to deal with incoming content?
Activity 9
14. Identify members which will participate in
the evaluation, and present a training
session on how to use the software
15. IT deploys software on developmental
server, implementation team and other role
players evaluate, and IR manager forward
evaluation report containing requests for
changes (e.g. to submission form) to IT Unit
Activity 10
16. IT deploys software on developmental
server for the second time,
implementation team and other role players
evaluate, and IR manager forward evaluation
report containing requests for changes to IT
Unit.
It could be necessary that the deployment on
the developmental server
has to be tested for a third time.
Activity 11
17. IT deploys software on quality assurance
server, implementation team and other role
players evaluate, and IR manager forward
evaluation report containing requests for
changes to IT Unit.
It could be necessary that the deployment
on the quality assurance server has to be tested
for a second time.
Activity 12
18. IT deploys software on production server,
implementation team and other role players
evaluate, and IR manager forward evaluation
report containing requests for changes to IT
Unit.
Keep on testing until software is flawless.
19. Create Communities & Collections for
champions, and populate in order to
demonstrate to library staff and community
Activity 13
20. Register IR with international harvesters,
search engines,
have it listed on web pages etc
21. Start developing a marketing presentation
(which can be customized for specific subject
areas), marketing leaflets, training material,
online help e.g. copyright clearance process
Activity 14
22. Introduce IR to library management
23. Introduce IR to library Steering Committee
26. Introduce IR to library staff
Activity 15
27. Provide training to subject librarians
(Collection Administrators)
28. Provide training to Submitters
(appoint students etc)
29. Provide training to cataloguers
(Metadata Editors)
Activity 16
30. Establish the following
(will replace initial implementation team):
IR Steering Committee
IR Policy Advisory Group
IR User Group
Activity 17
31. Introduce IR to rest of community
e.g. departments, individuals, etc.
Also host open sessions over lunch hour,
use organisational newsletters,
present at meetings & conferences.
Negotiate for submitters.
Activity 18
32. Invite all to register new collections.
Communicate procedure on e.g. IR home page.
33. Frequently communicate e.g. via e-mail,
monthly newsletter, etc.
Frequently communicate statistics.
34. Launch IR when ready … Invite principal,
vice-principals, heads of faculties &
departments, other major role players, etc.
Activity 19
35. Budget each year
and plan for the following year.
Keep monitoring server capacity,
stay updated through mailing lists & reading
articles, attending conferences etc.
Sustainability
This planning checklist covers resourcing repositories
for sustainability.
(adaptation from the Repository Support Project, the UK:
http://www.rsp.ac.uk/)
Here are the questions to ask yourself:
1. Have you properly and fully specified the
requirements of your repository?
2. What is the anticipated growth of your repository?
3. 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?
Sustainability 2
4. Who will answer support/help desk queries relating
to the repository?
5. Have you considered how your repository may grow
over the next year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years?
6. 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?
Thank you!
Questions?
Iryna Kuchma
iryna.kuchma[at]eifl.net; www.eifl.net
The presentation is licensed with Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 License