Institutional repositories as infrastructures for long-term preservation

Francke, HelenaHögskolan i Borås,Akademin för bibliotek, information, pedagogik och IT,Digitala resurser och tjänster inom kultur- och informationsområdet,Swedish School of Library and Information Science, University of Borås, Sweden (author)

Introduction. The study describes the conditions for long-term preservation of the content of the institutional repositories of Swedish higher education institutions based on an investigation of how deposited files are managed with regards to file format and how representatives of the repositories describe the functions of the repositories. Method. The findings are based on answers to a questionnaire completed by thirty-four institutional repository representatives (97% response rate). Analysis. Questionnaire answers were analysed through descriptive statistics and qualitative coding. The concept of information infrastructures was used to analytically discuss repository work. Results. Visibility and access to content were considered to be the most important functions of the repositories, but long-term preservation was also considered important for publications and student theses. Whereas a majority of repositories had some form of guidelines for which file formats were accepted, very few considered whether or not file formats constitute open standards. This can have consequences for the long-term sustainability and access of the content deposited in the repositories. Conclusion. The study contributes to the discussion about the sustainability of research publications and data in the repositories by pointing to the potential difficulties involved for long-term preservation and access when there is little focus on and awareness of open file formats.

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap hsv//swe
SOCIAL SCIENCES Media and Communications Information Studies hsv//eng
NATURVETENSKAP Data- och informationsvetenskap hsv//swe
NATURAL SCIENCES Computer and Information Sciences hsv//eng
institutional repositories
preservation
sustainability
file formats
information infrastructures
research data
open access
Library and Information Science
Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap
Software Systems Research Group (SSRG)
INF304 Öppna data/Öppna system

Gamalielsson, JonasHögskolan i Skövde,Institutionen för informationsteknologi,Forskningscentrum för Informationsteknologi,Software Systems Research Group (SSRG)(Swepub:his)gamj (author)
Lundell, BjörnHögskolan i Skövde,Institutionen för informationsteknologi,Forskningscentrum för Informationsteknologi,Software Systems Research Group (SSRG)(Swepub:his)lunb (author)
Högskolan i BoråsAkademin för bibliotek, information, pedagogik och IT (creator_code:org_t)

About the subject

SOCIAL SCIENCES: SOCIAL SCIENCES; and Media and Commun ...; and Information Stud ...

Kungliga biblioteket hanterar dina personuppgifter i enlighet med EU:s dataskyddsförordning (2018), GDPR. Läs mer om hur det funkar här.
Så här hanterar KB dina uppgifter vid användning av denna tjänst.