Content Unlocked: Success Stories and Lessons Learned from an Institutional Repository\u27s First Decade

Institutional repositories, or IRs, are considered a valuable tool that enable academic libraries to take resources that were once hidden away, either in the stacks or behind paywalls, and make them available to a global audience. But how effective are they at achieving this goal? To answer this question, we will take a big-picture (quantitative) and small-picture (qualitative) look at the content in Aquila, the University of Southern Mississippi\u27s IR, as it marks its tenth anniversary this year. We will also discuss some lessons learned from the repository’s first decade and the value of IR content beyond the academic community

A Recipe for Success: Celebrating Faculty and Increasing Institutional Repository Participation

When it comes to adding faculty publications to an institutional repository, time is of the essence. Many publishers allow authors to upload postprints to their institutional repositories; however, faculty do not tend to maintain their postprints for a long period after publication. How can librarians encourage faculty to report new publications in a timely manner? This recipe calls for hosting a reception honoring faculty with new publications, which combines a celebration of faculty achievement with outreach to increase IR uploads

Aquila: One Million Downloads!

Highlights and statistics from Aquila\u27s road to one million download

Open Access(ibility): Collaborating with Editors to Ensure Accessible Content

Many library publishing programs rightly laud the value of Open Access in their endeavors, but this largely focuses on paywalls, and paywalls are not the only barrier to access. For example, users with visual impairments may need to rely on screen readers or other tools to utilize a publication, and if the document has not been optimized for these technologies, such readers may still be left out. It is essential that library publishing programs take these users into account when developing their workflows. In late 2020, our library-led publishing program began the process of reviewing the journals published through our repository to see if all of the publications met accessibility standards. After identifying any needed changes, we began collaborating with editors to identify necessary workflow changes and provide training sessions tailored to each journal depending on its needs. This presentation will highlight the steps we took to identify needed changes, the process for training and remediation thus far, and a discussion of next steps

Think Outside the Book: Unconventional Library Services to Support Teaching and Scholarship

Patrons think about finding books or conducting research when they think about libraries, but do they also think about libraries when it comes to choosing a textbook for their classroom or understanding a publisher contract? In this session, attendees will have the opportunity to learn and discuss a wide array of services that The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries offers patrons: Open Educational Resources: Support for finding, creating, and implementing open educational resources in the classroom Copyright: Understanding the basics of copyright and its implications for those using copyrighted material Author Rights: Interpreting publisher contracts and identifying ways authors can use and/or share their published scholarship Data Management: Support for grant-funded researchers who need to provide access to and preserve their data Publishing: Tools for publishing scholarly journals or for publishing gray literature or reports that might not be well-suited for traditional publishing outlet

Self-Driving ETDs: Developing an ETD Program that Runs Itself

The University of Southern Mississippi has included ETDs in the institutional repository since 2012, beginning with honors theses. In the early days, this was a very hands-on process that involved the direct uploading of ETDs by IR staff. However, once the Graduate School began adding ETDs to the IR as well, this workflow became untenable. In response, we worked with the Graduate School to develop a process in which students directly submit their ETDs to the IR, staff in the Graduate School review the submissions and send back any needed revisions, and then once the document is approved, Graduate School staff directly post them to the IR. The only involvement of IR staff is to run occasional metadata checks and provide technical support as needed. This presentation will briefly outline the background of this project, followed by a look at the workflow and training process developed for the Graduate School. It will also address some lessons learned and ideas for improving the program going forward

What\u27s the Big Deal? The Future of Publisher Agreements

Many libraries have reevaluated their Big Deal journal packages with several large vendors due to rising costs and budget cuts. This session outlines several alternatives to Big Deal packages and offers suggestions for what future agreements may look like

The Future of IRs: Finding a Way Forward

In light of recent changes, where do we see IRs heading in the next five years? What are the common goals we should be working toward, regardless of platform? For that matter, is there still a role for company-owned, hosted IR solutions, or are these inherently counterproductive to the goals of scholarly communication, as some suggest? We will look at these questions and related issues during this session

A Win-Win Situation: Celebrating Faculty and Increasing Institutional Repository Participation

While there are many ways for institutional repository managers to identify new faculty publications that can be included in the repository, it is often far more difficult to increase faculty buy-in. Learn about two new initiatives to celebrate faculty and increase their engagement with the IR implemented by USM