Re-Discovering Repository Architecture: Adding Discovery as a Key Service

Abstract

This article proposes an architecture for institutional repositories (IRs) which is more service oriented and distributed than the typical view of a repository as a monolithic software application. The discussion is informed by first-hand case-studies from work conducted in the Australian IR scene. While this paper is grounded in real, mostly antipodean, examples it is relevant globally; the issues discussed and solutions proposed here are important to many repositories. The discussion is in three parts. Firstly, there is a short outline of the core functions of IRs in the Australian context and how they are viewed and modeled by practising repository practitioners; repositories are widely perceived and discussed now as monolithic systems, a view which contrasts with work by repository and digital library strategists, that suggest they be viewed as a collection of services with an accompanying governance model. Secondly, selected key issues in repositories are illustrated with reference to experience working with Australian repository managers; in each of these cases I show how a reinterpretation of the monolithic architecture could help to make the repository better able to meet its goals. Finally, the architectural features suggested in the second part are drawn together into a proposed layered architecture for repository systems. The two key components of this model are (a) an index component, populated by a smart, scriptable indexer which can index multiple disparate systems on and off campus, together with (b) a discovery layer which consists of one or more web portals that use the index to provide a single point of access for both machine and human data consumers. This exposition suggests more work on reconsidering the institutional repository as a kind of institution in its own right; analogous to a library, rather than the current habit of conflating the term 'repository' with a software application.Keywords: institutional repositories, OAI-PMH, digital preservation IntroductionAs Clifford Lynch noted in a recent talk on Revisting Institutional Repositories, to talk about 'repositories' you need to know who you are talking to. For this paper the broad working definition of an Institutional Repository (IR) comes from the RUBRIC toolkit (RUBRIC was a project led by the University of Southern Queensland and funded by the Australian Government under the Systemic Infrastructure Initiative):IRs centralize, preserve and make accessible the knowledge generated by academic institutions, and form part of a larger global system of repositories which are indexed in a standardised way and searchable using a common interface. IRs store electronic resources regardless of type or format, for example text, images, sound, data and, being institutionally sponsored, provide ongoing storage and access beyond the life of an individual computer, research project or organisational unit. In my view, a university-based institutional repository is a set of services that a university offers to the members of its community for the m...

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