Institutional Repositories, a new platform in Higher Education and Research. Final version.

Abstract

This discussion paper is commissioned by SURF, the Dutch higher education and research partnership organisation for network services and information and communications technology. It does not (necessarily) reflect the opinion of SURF regarding this issue. The sole aim of the author is to sharpen the arguments. The discussion on Institutional Repositories is wide ranging. It deals with all aspects of higher education and scientific research. The electronic era reshapes the whole academic landscape, research methods, information management and education alike. In such a dynamic situation, it is important to keep an analytic eye on all processes and stakeholders. We have to be sure which battles are fought, which strategies are implemented and which arms are used. We have to avoid the standard mistake to fight the present war with the strategies of the former or in a less belligerent language to repeat the example of building clippers after its finally successful rival, the steamship, was engaging in transoceanic voyages. This short report aims to provide an analytical approach toward the issue of Institutional Repositories in order to clarify the multifaceted discussion and to serve as a kind of checklist in the process of decision making. The present discussion on Institutional Repositories is characterised by an unbalanced mixture of technology push, a discussion on the level of academic autarky and the debate on the role of (commercial) publishers. In this report, a more axiomatic approach is adopted in the hope that this will assist reaching a more transparent discussion of the aims and goals as well as the organisational and financial consequences.