Mrs. Lisa Chisholm1, Mrs. Mandy Phipps-Green1
1University Of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Biography:
Lisa Chisholm is the Library Research Services Manager at the University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka. She has over 20 years experience in academic and corporate libraries both in New Zealand and overseas. She is knowledgeable and passionate about Open Scholarship, Research Metrics & Impact, Research Data Management, and Open Access, and is dedicated to supporting both students and academic researchers in these areas.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5313-6943
Mandy Phipps-Green is a Research Services Librarian at the University of Otago Library, University of Otago | Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka. Holding a BA(Hons) in Anthropology from the University of Otago, and an MSc in Forensic Science from the University of Auckland, Mandy worked in the field of complex disease genetics for 15 years, before joining the Library in 2022. She is the administrator of OUR Archive, the University's institutional repository of research outputs.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1763-9623
Abstract:
In 2021, the University of Otago’s existing institutional repository system (DSpace v.5) was assessed as highly bespoke, unintuitive, underutilised, expensive to maintain, and a security risk. With high-level sponsorship by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research and Enterprise, the Library launched a project to select and implement a new cutting-edge repository system, with the goal of elevating Otago’s research visibility in a highly competitive tertiary sector.
Following a rigorous evaluation process, stakeholders selected Esploro, a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) platform from Ex Libris. A small but dedicated project team spearheaded the implementation, involving migration of existing content, and configuration of the new system from October 2023 to March 2024, culminating in a successful launch on 1 May 2024.
The transition was transformative: ~15,000 existing research outputs were migrated from the old system, of which ⅔ were student theses and just ⅓ non-thesis research. One-year post-launch, the repository boasts >44,000 outputs – an increase of 191%, with a dramatic increase in non-thesis research (now 75% of total content).
This successful increase in research outputs was made possible by key features of Esploro, including Smart Expansion, which imports known past publications using paired researcher ID and DOI information, and Smart Harvesting, which automatically identifies and adds new publications daily, minimising the manual deposits by researchers.
This presentation will explore the triumphs and challenges of implementing a new system and the impact on research visibility and accessibility.