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Background: Health sciences libraries in medical schools, academic health centers, health care networks, and hospitals have established institutional repositories (IRs) to showcase their research achievements, increase visibility, expand the reach of institutional scholarship, and disseminate unique content. Newer roles for IRs include publishing open access journals, tracking researcher productivity, and serving as repositories for data sharing. Many repository managers oversee their IR with limited assistance from others at their institution. Therefore, IR practitioners find it valuable to network and learn from colleagues at other institutions. Case Presentation: This case report describes the genesis and implementation of a new initiative specifically designed for a health sciences audience: the Medical Institutional Repositories in Libraries (MIRL) Symposium. Six medical librarians from hospitals and academic institutions in the U.S. organized the inaugural symposium held virtually in November 2021. The goal was to fill a perceived gap in conference programming for IR practitioners in health settings. Themes of the 2021 and subsequent 2022 symposium included IR management, increasing readership and engagement, and platform migration. Post-symposium surveys were completed by 73/238 attendees (31%) in 2021 and by 62/180 (34%) in 2022. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Discussion: Participant responses in post-symposium surveys rated MIRL highly. The MIRL planning group intends to continue the symposium and hopes MIRL will steadily evolve, build community among IR practitioners in the health sciences, and expand the conversation around best practices for digital archiving of institutional content. The implementation design of MIRL serves as a blueprint for collaboratively bringing together a professional community of practice.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the status of institutional repositories (IRs) in the South Asian region. The various characteristic features of IRs are studied. Design/methodology/approach Open directory of open access repositories (DOAR) as a data-gathering tool was consulted for extracting the desired data. Findings India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh lead other South Asian nations in terms of IRs count. Majority of the IRs are operational in nature with higher number of operational IRs from India. In terms of record count, India leads the list. “Journal articles” outscore other content type and majority of the IRs have OAI-PMH as their base URL. DSpace stays a prioritized software for content management in IRs. Majority of the IRs have not defined their content management policies. English stays a prioritized language of the content dotting the South Asian IRs and majority of the IRs not providing usage statistics. A good score of IRs has incorporated Web 2.0 tools in them with RSS as the preferred Web 2.0 tool. A good count of the IRs has not customized their interface. Majority of the IRs have interface in two languages. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of the study is that the findings of the research are based on the data collected through the repositories indexed by Open DOAR. Originality/value The study tries to explore the characteristic features of IRs from the South Asian region.

This study investigates user opinion, satisfaction level, and challenges towards institutional repositories. Theresearchers adopted survey method, questionnaire tools, and simple random sampling techniques and collected548 respondents from the autonomous institutions of the department of science and technology. The mean analysis on opinion towards the benefits of an institutional repository reveals that “It promotes self-archiving 24*7” hasthe highest mean score, while concerning the satisfaction level of users “I am satisfied with membership facility” has the highest mean score, and vis-à-vis overall problems “Electricity problem” has the highest mean score. The result indicates that age has a significant difference with library facility (p=.001), retrieval (p=.000), searching and browsing facility (p=.001), usability (p=.012), and copyright issue (p=.002). Concerning respondent’s designation, there is a significant difference in the library facility (p=0.027), retrieval (p=0.001), usability (p=0.005), awareness problem (p=0.005), and copyright issues (p=0.001). This study bridged the existing literature gap by determining various factors affecting users’ opinions, satisfaction levels, and overall problems. Further, examine the significant difference between demographic variable and study variables.

Purpose This study aims to identify the readiness of institutional repositories in Indonesia to implement digital humanities (DH) data curation. Data curation is a method of managing research data that maintains the data’s accuracy and makes it available for reuse. It requires controlled data management. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a qualitative approach. Data collection was carried out through a focus group discussion in September–October 2022, interviews and document analysis. The informants came from four institutions in Indonesia. Findings The findings reveal that the national research repository has implemented data curation, albeit not optimally. Within the case study, one of the university repositories diligently curates its humanities data and has established networks extending to various ASEAN countries. Both the national archive repository and the other university repository have implemented rudimentary data curation practices but have not prioritized them. In conclusion, the readiness of the national research repository and the university repository stand at the high-capacity stage, while the national archive repository and the other university repository are at the established and early stages of data curation, respectively. Research limitations/implications This study examined only four repositories due to time constraints. Nonetheless, the four institutions were able to provide a comprehensive picture of their readiness for DH data curation management. Practical implications This study provides insight into strategies for developing DH data curation activities in institutional repositories. It also highlights the need for professional development for curators so they can devise and implement stronger ownership policies and data privacy to support a data-driven research agenda. Originality/value This study describes the preparations that must be considered by institutional repositories in the development of DH data curation activities.

With increased emphasis on accessibility and quality education in tertiary institutions, open and distance learning (ODL) is occupying the center stage in Nigeria. Open educational resources (OERs) is becoming a valuable alternative to improving access to high-quality educational content released under open licenses by outstanding universities worldwide. Some conventional universities in Nigeria now offer both face-to-face and ODL courses, making them dual-mode. However, the universities who employ this dual-mode system are faced with the challenges of developing viable ODL courses. This study examined the extent the courseware developers in these universities in Nigeria use and publish their courses as OER and barriers to the effective utilization and publishing of OER especially in their institutional repositories (IR). The research instrument was designed as a descriptive survey. The sample for the study consists of 73 courseware developers selected from four dual-mode universities in Nigeria. The findings of the study showed that course developers in dual-mode universities do not use OER to a high extent nor publish OER to a high extent in their IR. It was observed that they experience more barriers with publishing of OER than with use of OER. Among others, it is recommended that there should be more awareness around this framework and course developers should be encouraged through incentives for greater participation in the use and publishing of OER in IRs.

Purpose This paper aims to address the pressing challenges in research data management within institutional repositories, focusing on the escalating volume, heterogeneity and multi-source nature of research data. The aim is to enhance the data services provided by institutional repositories and modernise their role in the research ecosystem. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyse the evolution of data management architectures through literature review, emphasising the advantages of data lakehouses. Using the design science research methodology, the authors develop an end-to-end data lakehouse architecture tailored to the needs of institutional repositories. This design is refined through interviews with data management professionals, institutional repository administrators and researchers. Findings The authors present a comprehensive framework for data lakehouse architecture, comprising five fundamental layers: data collection, data storage, data processing, data management and data services. Each layer articulates the implementation steps, delineates the dependencies between them and identifies potential obstacles with corresponding mitigation strategies. Practical implications The proposed data lakehouse architecture provides a practical and scalable solution for institutional repositories to manage research data. It offers a range of benefits, including enhanced data management capabilities, expanded data services, improved researcher experience and a modernised institutional repository ecosystem. The paper also identifies and addresses potential implementation obstacles and provides valuable guidance for institutions embarking on the adoption of this architecture. The implementation in a university library showcases how the architecture enhances data sharing among researchers and empowers institutional repository administrators with comprehensive oversight and control of the university’s research data landscape. Originality/value This paper enriches the theoretical knowledge and provides a comprehensive research framework and paradigm for scholars in research data management. It details a pioneering application of the data lakehouse architecture in an academic setting, highlighting its practical benefits and adaptability to meet the specific needs of institutional repositories.

The article tries to explore the existing literature on Open Access Institutional Repositories (OAIRs) so that the existing developments can be identified and research gaps can be investigated. This structured review was carried out with the aid of three indexing databases, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Different search terms showcasing multiple dimensions of OAIRs were executed across the three databases. After eliminating the duplicate records, the papers were scanned for final review. The paper tries to highlight the status, content management policies, and Web 2.0 use/ Interactive features of the OAIRs. How the OAIRs are used by academia is also a highlight of the paper. The paper also focuses on the studies that showcase the awareness of the users using the OAIRs. Furthermore, the studies featuring the problems, and challenges have also been incorporated. Studies that focus on the factors and motivators in the use of OA IRs also form a part of the paper.

With research data generation on the rise, Institutional Repositories (IR) are one of the tools to manage it. However, the variety of data practices across institutions, domains, communities, etc., often requires dedicated studies in order to identify the research data management (RDM) requirements and mapping them to IR features to support them. In this study, we investigated the data practices for a few national universities in North Macedonia, including 110 participants from different departments. The methodology we adopted to this end enabled us to derive some of the key RDM requirements for a variety of data-related activities. Finally, we mapped these requirements to 6 features that our participants asked for in an IR solution: (1) create (meta)data and documentation, (2) distribute, share, and promote data, (3) provide access control, (4) store, (5) backup, and (6) archive. This list of IR features could prove useful for any university that has not yet established an IR solution.

The assessment was performed according to 57 indicators across the nine determinants identified in the model, including stakeholder engagement, community competence, content development, technology innovation, feedback systems, regulatory support, institutional cooperation, cultural inclusivity, and industrial partnerships. The population of the study comprised 117 staff working in IR units across 14 public universities in Nigeria. This study's findings reveal that none of the determinants influencing the implementation of Sustainable Institutional Repositories (IRs) have been fully realized. While six determinants have made significant progress, three remain at the initial implementation stage. Stakeholders indicate commendable performance in staff management for IRs, fostering teamwork, and strengthening internal relationships within the repository team. However, there is a noticeable absence of indices reflecting relationships between teams and scholars. Similarly, the findings reveal that universities lack partnerships with international journals/publishers and show minimal engagement with local peer-reviewed journals for depositing publications into repositories. These universities have not yet established affiliations with other repositories or digital libraries for data harvesting, nor have they endorsed any open-access declaration to support repository practices. Nigeria should revive and establish new collaborations for resource sharing, expertise, and data harvesting, as well as create partnerships with local and international journal publishers for deposits into the repositories. Library schools should reform their curricula to reflect the current practice of scholarly communication and repository management. This research is the first to measure the implementation level of Institutional Repositories (IRs) in Nigeria using a novel assessment framework tailored to the African context, offering a comprehensive analysis of 57 indicators across nine determinants of IR sustainability. It highlights progress in internal management while identifying significant gaps in external collaborations. The research provides valuable insights into stakeholder engagement and presents actionable recommendations, including policy development, fostering partnerships, and updating educational curricula to enhance IR sustainability in Nigerian universities.