Over the past three years the UK Government has spent over 15 million pounds on the creation and advancement of digital libraries in the HE and FE sector. The result is more and more repositories whose existence necessitate the input of a full spectrum of staff from managers, policy makers, developers and metadata cataloguers, to researchers and lecturers. Aimed to equip all LIS professionals with practical advice on how repositories can be effectively created, managed and advanced, The Complete Guide to Repositories provides a unique insight into the open digital library community which is labouring to assure that valuable cultural resources are delivered to the world's scholars. The Complete Guide to Repositories will stretch even the most forward thinking repository expert by reasserting what a repository is about and how it is used, what web architectures can support these assumptions and what larger web influences are changing the way repositories can operate.
The Complete Guide to Repositories is divided into three primary sections covering the creation, management and advancement of digital repositories. It also covers areas, including: creating resources; creating a repository; creating bespoke services for your users; the network effect of sharing services; repository politics; cost; pragmatics of improving your repository; and, the future. The Complete Guide to Repositories is essential reading for anyone coming into the profession, current LIS professionals whose roles require an understanding of repositories, as well as more senior and experienced managers wishing to hone their expertise with the most cutting edge advice.
Key topics include: * What's inside the repository? * The repository, research output and bibliometrics * The repository as a digital archive * Relationships: Co-operation, Outreach & External Relations * Repositories around the World.
David F Flanders is Project Manager for Technical Innovation, working with the Bloomsbury Colleges Consortium (University of London); and Mark Hedges is Deputy Director, Centre for e-Research, King's College London.