Institutional Repository preserves and promotes work of faculty and students
MSU Libraries Associate Professor Claudia C. Holland (standing) assists MSU Social Science Research Center Associate Research Professor Kathleen Ragsdale with navigation of the MSU Institutional Repository. PHOTO: Beth Wynn | Public Affairs
Mississippi State University’s Institutional Repository helps broaden the accessibility and impact of scholarship produced by the MSU community.
Launched in 2016 and managed by MSU Libraries, the institutional repository showcases and preserves the work of MSU faculty, staff and students. MSU Libraries faculty and staff members provide guidance about sharing and preserving scholarly research, data and university archives through the repository.
“The purpose of the IR is to preserve and make accessible any scholarship that’s produced at the university by faculty, students and staff,” MSU Libraries Associate Professor Claudia C. Holland said. “It’s not limited to text-based content. We’re also interested in images, music, video and data sets. You name it, we’ll take it. We want to make our community’s scholarship and creative works discoverable and easily accessible.”
Julie D. Shedd, MSU Libraries coordinator of digital initiatives and web services, stated, “It’s a great way to have your work seen by not only the general public, but also your colleagues at MSU and elsewhere. The IR can open up new avenues for collaboration, and it’s a good entryway for undergraduate and graduate students to get their work out there.”
The Institutional Repository was recently enhanced to provide better platform stability and usability. Although there are submission guidelines, Shedd emphasized that if it is something “by, for or about MSU,” it probably has a place in the Institutional Repository.
As more researchers shift from subscription-based to open publishing models, MSU Libraries staff are available to help them navigate copyright and licensing issues. Submissions to the Institutional Repository use a licensing structure by which the creator allows others to freely download and share their copyrighted works. Licensing is the crux of success for any open repository, Holland said.
“Faculty are really busy, so the library is here to help in any way we can to encourage deposits, make the deposit happen and then promote the scholarship produced by our community in whatever way we can,” Holland said.
For more on the Institutional Repository, visit ir.library.msstate.edu. For questions, contact Shedd at iradmin@msstate.edu or Holland at cholland@library.msstate.edu.
More information on MSU Libraries can be found at lib.msstate.edu.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.
James Carskadon | Public Affairs
