Realising the aspirations of next-generation repositories

Realising the aspirations of next-generation repositories

Fiona Bradley^1,2, Kim Tairi³, Ginny Barbour², Dimity Flanagan^2,4, Clare Thorpe⁵, Janet Catterall², Emma McLean¹, Marijka Azzopardi¹, Gerry Devine<sup>1

1</sup>UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
²Open Access Australasia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
³Auckland University of Technology, Auckland New Zealand
⁴University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
⁵Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia

Abstract

Institutional, disciplinary, and specialist repositories are an essential part of the scholarly communications infrastructure. They make available unique content including theses, reports, and articles, together with a rapidly growing range of non-textual materials including datasets, creative works, and images. Additionally, repositories are an essential means to facilitate open access to scholarly articles without cost to researchers. These dual purposes- making available unique content, and creating the record of an institution’s research outputs, require next-generation infrastructure to manage complex relationships between systems and policy requirements. UNSW Library has implemented DSpace7, an open source repository system, and a new DOI minting service. Positioning UNSW infrastructure as a node within an interconnected, international research landscape as envisioned by the COAR next-generation repositories project enables the Library to focus on where systems and services can best support researchers, while recognising that the collaborative nature of research and the scale of data being produced means that outputs are often findable elsewhere. This presentation will reflect on the current state of the Australian and New Zealand repository landscape, opportunities for further development in line with national and international initiatives, and the need for further coordinated investment. UNSW will be presented as a case study of decision making about what to prioritise in repository and related infrastructure project work.

Biography

Fiona Bradley is Director Research & Infrastructure at UNSW Sydney Library and leads scholarly communications and open access, repositories and reporting, and the institutional infrastructure that underpin these services. She leads the Library’s physical and digital spaces and services, and corporate services. Fiona is a member of the Open Access Australasia executive committee.

Janet is Senior Project Officer for Open Access Australasia and a Liaison Librarian at James Cook University. Janet has worked as a research-focused academic librarian in universities for twenty years in the US, Canada and Australia, with a defining interest in open access and scholarly communications.