A multifaceted approach to promote a university repository: The University of Kansas' experience

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe the history of KU ScholarWorks, the University of Kansas’ institutional repository, and the various strategies used to promote and populate it. This paper describes how KU ScholarWorks came into being, and discusses the variety of activities employed to publicize the repository and encourage faculty to deposit their work. In addition, the paper discusses some of the concerns expressed by faculty members, and some of the obstacles encountered in getting them to use the repository. The paper concludes with some observations about KU’s efforts, an assessment of the success of the program to date, and suggests some next steps the program may take. KU ScholarWorks has relied on a “self-archiving” model, which requires regular communication with faculty and long-term community building. Repository content continues to grow at a steady pace, but uptake among faculty has been slow. In the absence of mandates requiring faculty to deposit work, organizations running institutional repositories must continue to aggressively pursue a variety of strategies to promote repositories to faculty and encourage them to deposit their scholarship. Originality/value – KU’s experience will help other institutions develop institutional repositories by providing examples of marketing strategies, and by promoting a greater understanding of faculty behavior and concerns with regard to institutional repositories.