The Role of Institutional Repositories i…

The Role of Institutional Repositories in addressing Higher Education Challenges :

“Over the last decade, Higher Education around the world is facing a number of challenges. Challenges such as adopting new technologies, improving the quality of learning and teaching, widening participation, student retention, curriculum design/alignment, student employability, funding and the necessity to improve governance are considered particularly in many literature. To effectively operate and to survive in this globalization era, Higher Education institutions need to respond those challenges in an efficient way. This paper proposes ways in which institutional data repositories can be utilized to address the challenges found in different literature. Also we discuss which repositories can be shared across the institutions and which need not to be shared in order to address those challenges. Finally the paper discusses the barriers to sharing Higher Education repositories and how those barriers can be addressed.”

URL : http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/21694/

Research support services: What services…

Research support services: What services do researchers need and use? :

“The search for improvements in research performance is a powerful influence on all universities. Success in research is a major component in the various indicators of overall university performance. Hence universities are increasingly interested in how they can improve their competitive position in attracting, supporting and promoting the work of high-quality researchers. In times of financial stringency, however, they are also seeking to ensure that support and other services operate both efficiently and cost-effectively.

In that context, this study reports on both the provision and the use of information-related support services for researchers in four research-intensive universities in the UK: Leicester, University College London (UCL), Warwick and York. It is one half of a pair of studies commissioned by the Research Information Network (RIN) in the UK and by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) in the US. Both studies set out to investigate what kinds of information-related services are available to support researchers through the research lifecycle, and how those services are used and valued by researchers. Both studies are limited in scope, and are subject to the limitations of small-scale case studies. Nevertheless, we hope that they offer some insights into the nature of the services provided to support researchers in their work, and the extent to which they meet researchers’ expressed needs.”

URL : http://www.rin.ac.uk/system/files/attachments/Research_Support_Services_in_UK_Universities_report_for_screen.pdf

Research Publication Characteristics and…

Research Publication Characteristics and Their Relative Values: A Report for the Publishing Research Consortium :

“Scholars consider many factors when judging the potential quality of articles and deciding which articles to read. These factors may also influence their perception of the overall quality of the article. The goal of this project is to examine and measure the relative values of selected research publication characteristics to scientists and scholars and to understand the trade-offs readers make between these characteristics. Since readers cannot know the intrinsic value of an article before reading it, they must use other clues to judge its quality and to estimate what value it may have to them. For example, how important is the author reputation or type of journal in relation to other characteristics, or how important is online accessibility to the reader?”

URL : http://www.publishingresearch.net/PRCTenopiretalWord2010ResearchPublicationCharacteristics_000.docx

A Study of Institutional Repository Serv…

A Study of Institutional Repository Service Quality and Users’ Loyalty to College Libraries in Taiwan: The Mediating & Moderating Effects :

“The evolution of information technologies has produced changes in learning, creating ubiquitous learning. This paper presents a case study on institutional repository service quality and users’ loyalty to College Libraries in Taiwan. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. (1) Institutional repository service quality has a direct positive prediction on users’ loyalty. (2) Institutional repository service quality has an indirect positive prediction, through the mediation effects of user satisfaction on user loyalty. (3) Users’ perceived value has a moderating effect between user satisfaction and user loyalty”

URL : http://www.aicit.org/jcit/ppl/10-JCIT1-605208.pdf

Enhancing Institutional Repositories (IR…

Enhancing Institutional Repositories (IR) in Ghana:

“Academic and Research libraries in Ghana have difficulty accessing research work done in their institutions and in Ghana as a whole. This is a challenge in supporting teaching, learning, research and knowledge dissemination. Therefore, an alternative solution can be to enhance the Open Access Institutional repositories (OA- IR). The technology is currently new in Ghana with only one university hosting it. This article provides an overview of the establishment of OA- IRs in Ghana, the challenges and making a case for key decision makers to consider ways in setting up and enhancing their institutional repositories.”
URL : http://dspace.knust.edu.gh/dspace/handle/123456789/1926

Trends in Large-Scale Subject Repositori…

Trends in Large-Scale Subject Repositories :

“Noting a lack of broad empirical studies on subject repositories, the authors investigate subject repository trends that reveal common practices despite their apparent isolated development. Data collected on year founded, subjects, software, content types, deposit policy, copyright policy, host, funding, and governance are analyzed for the top ten most-populated subject repositories. Among them, several trends exist such as a multi- and interdisciplinary scope, strong representation in the sciences and social sciences, use of open source repository software for newer repositories, acceptance of pre- and post-prints, moderated deposits, submitter responsibility for copyright, university library or departmental hosting, and discouraged withdrawal of materials. In addition, there is a loose correlation between repository size and age. Recognizing the diversity of all subject repositories, the authors recommend that tools for assessment and evaluation be developed to guide subject repository management to best serve their respective communities.”

URL : http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november10/adamick/11adamick.html