Comparison of full-text versus metadata searching in an institutional repository: Case study of the UNT Scholarly Works

Authors in the library science field disagree about the importance of using costly resources to create local metadata records, particularly for scholarly materials that have full-text search alternatives. At the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries, we decided to test this concept by answering the question: What percentage of search terms retrieved results based on full-text versus metadata values for items in the UNT Scholarly Works institutional repository? The analysis matched search query logs to indexes of the metadata records and full text of the items in the collection. Results show the distribution of item discoveries that were based on metadata exclusively, on full text exclusively, and on the combination of both. This paper describes in detail the methods and findings of this study

Exploring Accessibility Practices in Institutional Repositories

Institutional repositories (IRs) provide open access and availability to research and scholarship. One area that needs improvement is ensuring the accessibility of this digital content to people with disabilities. In the fall of 2019, a team of librarians from six universities and organizations administered a survey to better understand current practices in this area and gauge the current landscape of accessibility efforts in IRs. The specific focus of this project looked at accessibility to the digital content itself stored in the repository, rather than the repository platform. This presentation discusses the key findings from the survey, lessons learned, and potential next steps. In addition to presenting our findings, we hope to gather feedback and suggestions from the community

Piloting a Peer-Review Process for Trusted Digital Repositories

Presentation for the 2015 Texas Conference on Digital Libraries (TCDL). This presentation discusses a collaborative peer-review process for the Trusted Repository Audit Checklist (TRAC)

Creating Order Out of Chaos: Introducing Name Authority into a Large ETD Collection

Presentation for the sixteenth international symposium on electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs). This presentation describes the challenges associated with controlling names, the approach of the University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries, the development and implementation of the UNT Name App, and discuss lessons learned

Introducing name authority into an ETD collection

Article on introducing name authority into a large electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) collection

Name Authority Control: An institutional repository approach

Presentation for the 2013 Cross Timbers Library Collaborative (CTLC) Conference. This presentation discusses the importance of name authority, how the UNT Name App tool addresses challenges with name authority, the migration and implementation process, and implications for future use

The Value of Open Access to Undergraduate Research

Article describing the importance and value of open access to undergraduate research

Exploring the Evolving Landscape of Open Access

Presentation for a workshop at the 2013 Open Access Symposium. This presentation discusses the impact of open access for students, the impact of open access on universities, and the impact of open access on publishing practices

Collaborative Approach to Address Scholarly Communications and Digital Curation Challenges

Presentation for the Cross Timbers Library Collaborative (CTLC) Scholarly Communications and Digital Curation (SCDC) Affinity Group 2013 Summer Meeting. In this presentation, the authors discuss collaborative approaches to address scholarly communications and digital curation challenges

Ryegrass Seeding Rate Alters Plant Morphology and Size--Possible Implications for Pasture Persistence

Poor persistence of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) is a major dairy industry issue in New Zealand and Australia. New ryegrass seed is often drilled at 18-30 kg/ha, although previous research indicated that pastures drilled at 10-12 kg/ha can be just as productive (Frame and Boyd 1986; Praat et al. 1996). High seeding rates increase competition between developing seedlings for light, water and nutrients, reduce plant size (Harris 1990) and potentially survival. The experiment reported here investigated the effect of plant density (created by differences in seeding rate) on plant morphology and survival. The hypothesis was that plants established from high seeding rates will be smaller and, therefore, less likely to survive the first summer; a period of substantial environmental stress (e.g., high temperatures, low soil moisture, insect attack)