Transcript The Future of Scholarship in the Digital Age: The Role of Institutional Repositories Ann J.

The Future of Scholarship in the
Digital Age:
The Role of Institutional
Repositories
Ann J. Wolpert
Director of Libraries
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Scholarly communication is in
transition
Publication is only one part of the networkenabled “system”
Disciplines are experimenting
Traditional outlets are constrained
New formats present preservation
challenges
Required responsibilities not yet defined
Increasing amounts of intellectual
output have no print analog.
The digital genie is out of the bottle in all
disciplines.
Digital and print need new, interoperable
management and access models.
Educational content is increasingly digital
in format.
Digital is still frighteningly fragile
The scholarly communications
system must work for all.
Disciplines can change their assessments and
procedures.
Universities can change their standards for judging
impact.
Authors can use contracts that enhance reader
access.
Publishers can work for more rational economics
for book publishing.
Editors can accept responsibility for the cost of
their journals.
To support a new model, new
tools are required.
To share innovation and information
To assure affordability and access
To build “the record” in new formats
To preserve “the record” in new formats
To sustain teaching using new tools and
techniques
To protect university investments
Institutional Repositories offer
part of the solution
A tool for faculty and institutions
Institution-based counterweight
Scholarly and educational material in digital
formats
Cumulative and perpetual
Open and interoperable
Why Libraries?
Expertise
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Large-scale collection management
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Assessment/collection policies
preservation
Metadata
Solid business practices
Commitment and reputation
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Long time frames
Mission scope
DSpace was designed for broad
adoption from the start.
MIT Libraries/Hewlett Packard Research Labs
collaborative development project
Broad vs deep
Federation model with support from Mellon
Foundation
Preservation archive
Open Source
Agnostic as to content
145 repositories worldwide, 4000+ downloads
DSpace Offerings
Large-scale, stable, managed long-term
storage
Support for range of digital formats
Easy-to-use submission process
Persistent network identifiers
Access control
Search and delivery interface
Initially imagined content
Preprints, articles
Technical Reports
Working Papers
Conference Papers
E-theses
Datasets
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statistical, geospatial,
matlab, etc.
Images
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visual, scientific, etc.
Audio files
Video files
Learning Objects
Reformatted digital
library collections
In fact, institutional repositories
reflect the interests of the host
Student portfolios
Theses and dissertations
Preprints
Digitized library collections
Working papers
Institutional “branding” and/or reach

Intellectual and/or Innovation
Challenges
Faculty Acceptance
 Valuing and trusting an institutional archive
 Myriad disciplines with different cultures
 Copyright/IP opinions and policies
Library Culture
 Policies
 Operations
Publisher responses
 Clamp down
 Loosen up
 Legislation/regulation
Sustainability
What’s next for DSpace and other
Institutional Repositories?
Digital preservation
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Digital files (e.g. audio, video, image, text)
Web sites (e.g. W3C)
Software programs
Enhanced access and usability
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Indexing and Search engines
Interoperability: course systems & desktops
Federation and economic sustainability
Patience, persistence, collaboration
http://www.dspace.org