Initiatives of an Institutional Repository (IR) of the Academic Institutions in the Indian Scenario: Prospects and Challenges

Institutional Repository (Ir): Definition

In simplest terms, a digital repository is where digital content, assets, are stored and can be searched and retrieved for later use. A repository supports mechanisms to import, export, identify, store and retrieve digital assets. According to the SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) position paper on institutional repositories “an institutional repository is a digital archive of the intellectual product created by faculty, research staff, and students of an institution, with few if any barriers to access”(Crow, 2002). According to Lynch (2003), “a university-based institutional repository is a set of services that a university offers to the members of its community for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community members. It is most essentially an organizational commitment to the stewardship of these digital materials, including long-term preservation where appropriate, as well as organization and access or distribution.”