Do Faculty Really Need Institutional Repositories? (Pecha Kucha)

Academic libraries have invested a great deal of time, energy, and resources in the development of institutional repositories (IRs). Yet many of the driving forces of these efforts have been focused on the needs of the library or university at large. Issues such as increasing journal prices, long-term preservation, and the pursuit of open access mandates tend to focus on the needs of the institution instead of the author. Although benefits like increased citation counts, improved visibility, and mediated deposit service models are motivating faculty to place their scholarship in their university's IR , it is not always clear what unique benefits institutional repositories provide.

This presentation will challenge audience members to consider ways that current institutional repository models succeed and fail in supporting faculty scholarship, particularly during the tenure process, examine the contributions institutional repositories can make to scholarly communication efforts, and explore ways that libraries can better align their repository services to meet the specific needs of faculty.

Following the rapid fire style of Pecha Kuchas, this presentation is designed to encourage audience members to ask hard questions and examine the successes or failures of their own library's scholarly communication efforts.