Beyond Advocacy: A Bradford Master Class on Institutional Repositories

Breakout Session notes

Definition depends on institution, department, stakeholder
Can be redefined
"Lots of stuff in it"
Good PR
Buy-in from research staff (interest and understanding)
Good name! Avoid jargon
Administrative staff are involved in process not just academics
High usage and statistics to prove it (E.g. Repository's own statistics module, Google Analytics)
Repository is embedded into the Research Process
Repository links with other research services (E.g. CV pages)
Repository is visible and not just via Google
Right information disseminated to stakeholders (E.g. copyright information)
Appropriate staffing levels and skills sets combined with motivation
Method of deposit suits stakeholders
Value is added to ingested items by repository staff
"Rock solid" repository policies including preservation policy
Usable interface
Accessible interface and content

Lack of time, money and staff
Need to vie for academics' time during a busy year
Too many initiatives, projects and services for staff to get interested in
The position of the repository manager - networking with the "right" people within the institution
Even when a mandate is in place advocacy is important
A mandate can act as a barrier in itself
Difficulties in achieving buy-in from senior management
Publisher policies on self-archiving (published PDF)
Versioning
REF
Lack of an institutional system for research data
Metadate - quality and lack of time
Access to technical support
Interaction with external system (E.g. BL ETHoS)
Accommodating non-traditional content (E.g. XML, raw data)

Get the message right (evidence - facts & figures)
Use statistics to promote repository (images and graphs - one images is worth a 1000 words)
Make the repository relevant to departments
List of benefits need to matter to the stakeholders (citations are not the only thing out there)
Involve administrational staff at departmental level
Use departmental editors to manage submissions from individual staff members
Try delegating advocacy to liaison librarians and departments themselves
Create a "buzz" and let the message travel by word of mouth
Embed the repository into research management
Find "credible voices" or "champions" in Schools/Depts
Listen to your users
Liaise with the Research Office
Choose the right terminology and avoid jargon (E.g. Is "repository" appropriate?)
Talk to your research students early on
Go for an institutional mandate but link it with an effective advocacy approach
What's your "wow factor" (E.g. catering for your distance learners, eTheses etc.)
Harvest: PubMed Central, ArXiv
Link repositories to institutional research management systems to avoid dublication of effort
Regional collaboration is attractive to many organisations