The institutional repository at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Its first year of operations

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a short history of the first year of operation of an institutional repository (IR) at a midwestern state university. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is anecdotal, reviewing aims, rationales, and strategies, and offering advice and some counter-intuitive lessons. Findings - The paper finds that voluntary self-archiving by faculty or campus publishers is exceptional or rare, but there are other ways of populating an IR with valuable content. IR's should seek original material, including new dissertations, as well as previously published articles. IR's should offer a variety of services to make faculty participation as effortless as possible. IR's can increase usage by efforts directed at publicizing their resources and offerings. Research limitations/implications - The paper concerns one institution, but the challenges faced are common to all new university institutional repositories. Originality/value - This paper is a useful source of information for those considering, planning, or operating an institutional repository.