Building Institutional Repositories to Meet Real User Needs Susan Gibbons Associate Dean River Campus Libraries University of Rochester [email protected].

Building Institutional Repositories to Meet Real User

Needs

Susan GibbonsAssociate DeanRiver Campus LibrariesUniversity of [email protected]

March 7, 2006

Outline

IR BasicsIR LandscapeUser AnalysisBarriers to ParticipationStrategies to Move Forward

What’s an IR

“a set of services that a university offers to the members of its community for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community members.”

- Clifford Lynch, ARL Bimonthly Report 226

Unique “set of services”

Post-printsPre-printsETDsData setsWorking papersTechnical reportsConference proceedings & presentations

“Supplementary materials”E-journalsMonographsLearning objectsPortfoliosMultimedia objects

Why?: Librarian perspective

Not all valuable scholarly communication is formally publishedBorn-digital documents are far more at risk than paper

Why?: Librarian perspective

Plays to our strengthsOrganizingIndexingPreserving

Proactive response to future of librarianship

Why?: Institutional perspective

Efficiencies Stewardship of intellectual propertyShowcase institution

Why?: Faculty perspective

Solves some of my problemsBackupsFormat migrationAccess

Easier than hosting personal website

Why?: Faculty perspective

FeedbackIs my work being used?Increase in citations

Able to augment my papersOmitted sections/chaptersImagesData sets

IR Landscape:

Then & Now

2004 Landscape

If you build it… they might not come!Example of MIT

National and international press for DSpace$285,000 annualApprox. 4,000 items in 2004$71 per item, per yearProfessional marketing assistance

2004 Landscape

April 2004 Survey of 45 IRs Average # of documents 1,250Median # of documents 290

From Ware, M. (2004). Institutional Repositories and Scholarly Publishing. Learned Publishing 17:2, 115-124.

Today’s Landscape

MIT18,810 documents (11,000+ dissertations) $15.15 per item per year

December 2005 survey of 97 DSpace repositories

Average # of documents 4,486Median # of documents 523

On a global scale, U.S. is falling behind

Australia- 95% Belgium- 53%Denmark- 50% Finland- 5%France- 27% Germany- 100%Italy- 22% Norway- 100%Sweden- 64% The Netherlands- 100%UK- 22% US- 50% of doctoral

From September 2005 D-Lib Magazine article by Westrienen and Lynch

Percentage of Universities with IRs by Country

Getting Better, But Still Not There

How can we come to understand why faculty are not using the IRs?Growing toolkit of methodologies

Work practice studyParticipatory DesignUsability Study

Work Practice Study

IMLS grantAnthropologist, Dr. Nancy Fried FosterDisciplines = Tribes30 in situ interviewsFocused specifically on use of digital tools and documents in research and authoring

Work-Practice Study

Walk us through your research processIntroduce us to your environmentEngage us in your research interests

Record/Video tape everythingTranscriptsAnalysis by diverse group of people

Co-viewingStructured exercisesBrainstorming

Raw Data

Findings Concepts

Concepts

Inspiration

Problemsolving

Analysis

Participatory Design/ User Centered Design

Continuous loops back to the userDon’t guess, just ask!Can still get good input with less than a fully-functional prototype

Usability

Many techniques that can be used throughout the design processClassic test- observing real users performing typical tasksQuality assurance

Usability Lite!1. Define audience & purpose

2. Define key tasks 3. Script the tasks4. Test & record results5. Analyze results6. Translate results into design7. Repeat steps 4-6

Find a known item

Find a preprint authored by Prof. John Smith

Taken from B. Reeb & D. Lindahl’s LITA Regional Institute onDesign Process & Usability

Broad Findings: Different VoicesInstitutional Voice

Showcase; efficienciesLibrary Voice

Archiving; permanence; proactive response to serial pricing

IT VoiceCool technology; back-up consolidation

Faculty/Researcher VoiceCommunicate with colleagues; research is read & cited; control how work is presented

Moving Forward: Different Voices

Be conscious of audienceTarget you marketingCater to faculty/researcher needs

Broad Finding: Language

Not speaking the language of faculty/researchersNot interested in how it works, only that it worksRequire a personalized message

Features As Stated in Promotional Literature

Degree to Which Faculty Understand the Feature and Perceive Its Benefit

Institutional repository         0%

Support for a variety of formats

        25%

Digital preservation         25%

Access control         100%

Metadata         0%

Open-source software         0%

Know the disciplineKnow their research interestsChange the vocabulary

Persistent URLs = Unbreakable linksMetadata harvesting = GoogleFormat migration = WordStar

Moving Forward: Language

Broad Finding: Not Enough Time

Universal complaintResent what interferes with researchIdeal IR requires zero learning & zero effort

Moving Forward: Not Enough Time

Self-archiving make sense?Bundle submissions (other repositories; other purposes)Grad students are faculty of the futureDemonstrate immediate benefits

Moving Forward: Not Enough Time

IncentivesResearch Assessment Exercise (UK)Tenure PortfolioAnnual Academic Review

Make IR submission part of the natural work flow

Integrated into the tools they use daily

Faculty needs

X

Put my work in a

safe place

X

Priority needs (authoring, collaborating)

DSpace

X

Reduce clutter

Doc Mgmt/ IR System

Mapping Needs to Systems

Faculty needs

X

Put my work in a safe place

X

Priority needs (authoring, collaborating)

DSpace

X

Reduce clutter

X

Motivating Needs(others cite my work, etc)

DSpace + Researcher Page

Mapping Needs to Systems

Broad Finding: Copyright Worries

Too complexFear of “accidentally” violating copyrightTakes too much time“Green” is not clear cut

Trust librarian copyright expertisePromote awareness, carefully

Less “Create Change”More “Get on the Bus”

Pro-active “self-archiving” projectsRomeo/Sherpa Publisher Copyright Database

Moving Forward: Copyright Worries

Broad Finding: Me, Me, Me

It is all about me!

How is this going to benefit me?Where am I in these collections and communities?

Other StrategiesMake it prestigious- Netherlands’ Cream of Science

Campus stars- monitor the press releases

Low-hanging fruitsCollections on institutional website

Working Papers, Technical Reports, Conference Papers

Paper distributed at departmental levelConference held on campusOn-campus journals/publications

Student undergraduate research On-line journals

Other Strategies

Most attentive to messageInvolved in open access

Search OAIster by affiliation

Retiring facultyGraduating studentsPublications on personal websiteGrant recipients (NIH)Editors of open access journals

Other StrategiesDon’t call it an “institutional repository”Faculty ownership

Hold off on library materialsFaculty advisory boardCustomization

Leverage existing relationshipsLiaisonsSpouses & friends

Don’t Forget Library Staff

Ensure library-wide understanding of:Project’s goals and objectivesBenefits of depositing materialsSupport services

Be ready for serendipity

Recognize That This is NEW!

Other Resources

LITA Regional Institute “Establishing an Institutional Repository”

PowerpointsBibliographyLinks to PoliciesCrib Sheet

http://docushare.lib.rochester.edu/docushare/dsweb/View/Collection-2193

Contact Information

Susan GibbonsAssociate DeanUniversity of Rochester, River Campus [email protected]: susanlgibbons