SYMPOSIAA practical solution for the theory of

institutional repositories

Marjorie McLaughlinCustomer Sales Consultant

What is an Institutional Repository?

• Digital collections that capture and preserve the “born digital” intellectual output of the institution

• Most often found at universities but of increasing concern to cities, counties and local library governing bodies.

Key Features of an IR• Collect• Store• Distribute

As well as…• Describe• Preserve• Index• Provide search interface• Manage

Who better to do this than the library!

Innovative Software• Partnership with Northeastern University

Libraries to develop Digital Repository Manager (DRM)

• Provide a solution for institutions who do not have the resources to develop and maintain open-source solutions

• Provide a practical solution for the theory of institutional repositories

SYMPOSIA

Symposia vs. Open Source

• Open Source– “Free”, but only initially– Need local expertise in setting up and managing software– Rely on the kindness of strangers for assistance with day-

to-day usage questions– Enhancements and new features are the responsibility of

the institution

• Innovative’s DRM - SYMPOSIA– Software installed and set up by Innovative staff– Library staff already have experience with similar software– Minimized training costs due to familiarity of interface– 24/7/365 support– Software will grow and improve over time: program

enhancements and new features developed for you

DRM Concepts

• Community– A group of people that have one or more specific roles

in relation to specific segments of the repository• Readers of confidential content• Submitters• Reviewers (verify appropriateness of submissions)• Metadata editors• Publishers (make content publicly accessible)

– Often equivalent to a department in the institution

• Subcommunity– A subset of a community

DRM Concepts

• Collection– A group of digital objects with metadata– Often organized by specific projects or subject areas– Collections may be related to more than one community– Collections may be “confidential”, whereby only specific

members are authorized to view their content

• Member– A person authorized for one or more specific roles in a

community: read, submit, review, edit metadata, publish– Java client users are “super-users”, and are not restricted to

specific communities for authorized roles

Public Interface• Web-based search and discovery of the

repository contents

• Keyword searching, including full text

• Targeted searching (e.g., search a single community)

• Browsing the IR structure

Public Interface

Keyword and targeted searches

Public Interface

Search results

Public InterfaceCommunity page

Description of the Community

Name and Logo

Subcommunities

Collections with synopses

Public InterfaceCollection

page

Titles of digital items in

collection

Navigational “breadcrumbs”

Public Interface

Digital item metadata

Link to digital item

Distributed Submission Interface• Distributed work flow: communities manage their own

material• Web-based• Authorized members manage the submissions for their

communities– Submit digital objects and descriptions

• One digital item at a time• Multiple digital items in one submission

– Review for appropriateness– Edit description– Publish submissions (make them publicly accessible)– A member may be authorized for one or more tasks

• Easy to submit: like sending an email with an attachment

Web-submission Interface

Web-submission Interface

As simple as adding an email attachment

Web-submission Interface

Choose the collection to which files are submitted

Add multiple files in one submission

Submission Interface

Input metadata

Submission Interface

Added to “My Submissions”

Select files

Batch Submission

Batch Submission

Select files and collection

Batch Submission

Input metadata that applies to all

Submission Interface

“Inbox” for managing

submissions

“My tasks”

Submission Interface

“My Submissions”

Submission Interface

My tasks : limit to …

Submission Interface

Action page

Submission Interface

Item History

Confirm action page

Submission Interface

Java-based Staff Management Interface

• For “super-users” who can manage all – Communities– Collections

• Management of Members

• Logins and authorizations

Management Interface

Browse search results

Position in repository

Management Interface

Hierarchy of repository

Management Interface

Community record:

Subcommunities

Management Interface

Community record:

Collections

Management Interface

Collections record: Attached Digital

Items

Digital Item: Descriptive Metadata

Guided editing

Digital Item: Descriptive Metadata

Add an element

Digital Item: Descriptive Metadata

Edit Source

Digital Item: Descriptive Metadata

XSL Transformations

Management Interface

Digital Item record: Attached digital

objects

Management Interface

Digital Item record: Digital Object details

Management Interface

Digital Item record: Password

Management Interface

Community record: Members

& Roles

Management Interface

Collections record: Members

& Roles

Member Administration

View a Member’s

Roles

Adherence to Digital Repository Standards• Metadata formats:

SYMPOSIA supports Qualified Dublin Core and METS formats

• Uniform Resource Names: SYMPOSIA is integrated with the Handle System

to provide uniform resource names – persistent identifiers so cited material can always be found.

• OAI-PMH OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting: SYMPOSIA is compatible with this standard,

meaning its contents can be harvested by others.

Product Evolution• Evolve over time

– Store, preserve and describe complex media sets, compound documents and learning objects

– Support for other metadata formats as they arise

– Control of multiple versions of digital objects

– Automatic full text indexing of a documents (without a plain text file)

– Long term migration of formats

For more information on digital repositories please consult

Library Technology ReportsJuly/August 2004, Vol. 40, No. 4

Establishing an Institutional Repository by Sue Gibbons, University of Rochester

SYMPOSIA

Thank you!

Marketing an Institutional Repository

Or, how can we market something which has such an awful name?

Edward A. WarroBerkeley, CATuesday, February 15, 2005

What will an IR do?

• Collect, save, disseminate, and preserve:– Papers– Thesis– Honors projects– Simulations– Learning objects– Digitized collections– Institutional Records (Records Management)– AND MORE

What doesn’t work?

• The following terms:– Institutional Repository– Metadata– Open Archives Initiative– Persistent Identifiers– Z39– MARC – Dublin Core

Knowing your audience

• What appeals to Administrators?– Branding the institution– Putting all faculty research in one place

• What appeals to Alumni and Trustees?– Prestige for the university

What does not appeal to most faculty?

• You can find a handful of articles about Tom Wolfe and Boris Pasternak in the same place as well as some chemistry data tables

• This will add to the prestige of our institution• Open Access and self archiving will eventually lead to

reforms in the publishing industry

Concerns of Tenure Track Faculty

• Submitting my work to an online archive will not count toward tenure

• My department wants articles submitted only to the highest prestige journals

• What is the peer review process?

Faculty Concerns

• How do other scholars refer to my articles and other information?

• Where did I put that paper? That computer file?• What if my backup doesn’t work?• What if the OS is gone -- Word files• What if hackers change my data -- change all my 5s to

7s• What will happen to my research when I retire? When

my grant ends? When my interests change?

What does appeal to faculty?

• This is a Library Service for faculty• Your digital materials will be:

- SAFE- MADE AVAILABLE- KEPT FOR A LONG TIME

• The submission process is very easy. Just a few clicks and a little info. Your secretary can do this.

• We will take responsibility for servers• We will take responsibility for migrations

What does appeal to faculty (cont.)?

• We will guide you through copyright issues• Your academic colleagues will have easy access to

your work—• Your work will be cited more often• Your work will be searchable through Google• Confidential data can be kept confidential –

permission required

Copyright Issues

• Consult with campus Copyright Officer and Counsel, then…

• Provide online and paper information on copyright/intellectual property rights, e.g.– University of Maryland’s Copyown site

http://www.nethics.umd.edu/copyown/– The Eprint.org FAQ http://www.eprints.org/self-faq/

• Have self-archiving guidance and language incorporated into campus Intellectual Property and/or Appropriate Computer Use Guidelines

Copyright Issues (cont.)

• Refer to ROMEO and SHERPA – both UK JISC (government) funded– ROMEO – for general discussion of global rights issues:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/Is/disresearch/romeo/– SHERPA – for listings of publisher copyright policies, and

guidance on IR licensing agreements and language: http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo.php

• See suggested language and policies for IP management at Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/

Starting Points

• A records management application– Records of the President’s office– Records of the Board of Trustees

• Non-threatening useful publications– Senior honors projects– Theses and dissertations– Learning objects– Then, faculty research, articles, data sets, etc.

More sophisticated appeal

• As a profession, we need to appeal to senior researchers and faculty until we reach a tipping point

• Some faculty are champions of open access• Have influence in their disciplines

Methods

• Faculty Newsletters• Library Liaisons• Seminars, breakfasts, symposia--get a faculty champion

to invite them• Research Assistants• Slow, one by one, marketing to faculty• Partnership on grant applications – how will you

disseminate your research?• Need Seven (7) Impressions

Unmet Faculty Needs

• The need for an authoring system– Sharing work with colleagues– Various drafts – time and date stamped– A POSSIBLE PROSPECT FOR A LATER RELEASE

• ALLOW FACULTY TO WORK WITH VARIOUS VERSIONS KEPT IN THEIR OWN WORKING GROUP INITIALLY

• OR

Is the IR better used to HOST ONLINE JOURNALS? Which is also wanted by faculty

For more information:

• Please visit the Iris website at: http://www.lib.neu.edu/iris/

Thank you!