Enhancing repository content (of large repositories)

["Armbruster, Chris" <Chris.Armbruster@EUI.eu>]

Dear colleagues,

repositories have been deployed in scholarly communication for 
nearly two decades and some have become part of the ecology of 
active researchers as trusted information source. These 
repositories are usually macro-scopic, i.e. thematic, national or 
serving a very large research institution (e.g. national 
academy).

Laurent Romary and I have completed an article including an 
argument that librarians and their support are crucial to 
reaching the next stage of enhanced content for the enhanced 
usage of repositories:  http://ssrn.com/abstract=1425692

Beyond Institutional Repositories

The current system of so-called institutional repositories, even 
if it has been a sensible response at an earlier stage, may not 
answer the needs of the scholarly community, scientific 
communication and accompanied stakeholders in a sustainable way. 
However, having a robust repository infrastructure is essential 
to academic work. Yet, current institutional solutions, even when 
networked in a country or across Europe, have largely failed to 
deliver. Consequently, a new path for a more robust 
infrastructure and larger repositories is explored to create 
superior services that support the academy. A future organisation 
of publication repositories is advocated that is based upon 
macroscopic academic settings providing a critical mass of 
interest as well as organisational coherence. Such a macro-unit 
may be geographical (a coherent national scheme), institutional 
(a large research organisation or a consortium thereof) or 
thematic (a specific research field organising itself in the 
domain of publication repositories).

http://ssrn.com/abstract=1425692

Kind regards,

Chris Armbruster
Executive Director, Research Network 1989
http://www.cee-socialscience.net/1989/

Publications and working papers available in Open Access
http://ssrn.com/author=434782