Embedding repositories & consortial enhancement
Download the full report
The project had two strands, technical and strategic. In its technical strand, the project aimed to implement a number of technical improvements to enhance the functionality of the SHERPA-LEAP repositories. In the strategic strand, the project set out to investigate the challenges of embedding repositories of digital assets in institutional strategy to ensure repository sustainability.
Executive Summary
This was was an 18-month project led by UCL on behalf of the SHERPA-LEAP (London Eprints Access Project) Consortium, a group of 13 University of London institutions with institutional repositories.
Part of the earlier work of SHERPA-LEAP included the creation of a hosted repository service for the partners, and the first aim of the technical work was to upgrade the repositories housed on the shared platform from EPrints 2 to EPrints 3. At the same time, the architecture of the hosted repository service was developed to provide better isolation of the constituent repositories. Having upgraded and reengineered the service, the project went on to implement two pieces of functionality: the Scholarly Works Application Profile (SWAP), to support interoperability, and a cover page generator, to add automatically provenance and citation information to full-text eprints at the point of dowload. Finally, a training programme was arranged for the SHERPA-LEAP partners, to enable them to make the most of the features and functionality of the upgraded software
The strategic strand of the project set out to examine the challenges of embedding repositories in HEI strategy. The partners felt that there had been problems in persuading HEIs to acknowledge that digital objects created by their researchers and teachers are intellectual assets of the institution, and that they should be managed in appropriate and sustainable ways. External consultants from the RAND Corporation were appointed to undertake an investigation across three SHERPA-LEAP partner institutions. The scope of the strategic investigation was deliberately not limited to ‘traditional’ eprints (that is, published research outputs), but included electronic theses, learning objects, multimedia assets and even primary data.
The technical work of the project resulted in the successful enhancement of the partner repositories, and the cover page generating tool has been released on an open source basis. The strategic work delivered two main outputs: a full report on the work of RAND in drawing on stakeholder interviews which identifies drivers for, and barriers to, repository sustainability; and a supplementary, ‘briefing paper’-length digest of the main report, concentrating on the interventions which can be taken by repository managers and champions to address the challenges of embedding repositories. Both documents are in the public domain. The Briefing Paper is explicitly designed for adaptation and local customisation by HEIs. The RAND report emphasises the importance of establishing a clear vision for the repository, and of close communication with stakeholders, if a repository is to succeed.