Types of Repositories
Digital Repositories
When it comes to managing electronic and online resources there are alternatives to repositories, such as virtual learning environments (VLEs), wikis and other informal content sharing applications, but the focus of this InfoKit is on formal repositories. In simple terms, a formal digital repository is where digital content, or assets, are stored and managed to facilitate searching and retrieval for later use. A repository supports mechanisms to import, export, identify, store, preserve and retrieve digital assets. It is also increasingly being recognised that repository use can be encouraged through additional services to encourage community sharing and exchange of both practice and content.
The type of content held in a repository can have significant impact on the way it is both designed, managed and used. There are some very active communities working around different types of repository - each of which has its own history, culture and terminology. Where possible this infokit will highlight sections that refer to specific repository types.
Institutional Repositories
Repositories can be many shapes and sizes, from small specialist collections to national or international services. The focus of this InfoKit is on repositories managed by Further and Higher Education Institutions, at departmental or institutional level, which implies a certain level of commitment and intention to embed repository use and management into everyday work. Many institutional repositories initially focussed on research outputs and some still limit their collections to this type of content. Others have started to widen the original remit to include learning and teaching materials. Whilst institutional VLEs have, to some extent acted as stores for learning and teaching materials, they tend not to support the search and retrieval functions required for a repository. Making this content more open, even within the institution, presents challenges for institutions with a commitment to open up their resources.
Open Access Repositories
Repositories are increasingly being made more 'open' to make content accessible to wider user groups, sometimes at a global level. Not all repositories are open: some are designed to support sharing within a specific group and are sometimes described as 'closed'. These repositories often require authentication and some have varying levels of access and 'degrees of openness'. Most of the advice in this InfoKit is relevant to open and to "closed" or authenticated repositories. The advice in this InfoKit is also not limited to managing research papers online, but applies to learning resources, research data sets, committee papers and other content types.
"Open access" is a term that is used in a specific sense and most often used in relation to collections of research papers. Open access is discussed further in the drivers section. The concept of open access repositories is closely linked to open access research papers, but the idea has wider currency and is linked to concepts of open educational resources (OERs) and open content licencing.
