Improving User Experience & Functionality for SUNY’s Open Access Repository (SOAR)

Abstract

Institutional Repositories (IRs) are important for universities and colleges in helping to manage and capture intellectual assets as a part of their information strategy. A digital repository can hold a wide range of materials for a variety of purposes and users. It can support research, learning, and administrative processes. Higher education institutions must manage their educational, research and associated assets more effectively and transparently than in the past. The great advantage of repositories is that they help institutions to develop coherent and coordinated approaches to the capture, identification, storage, and retrieval of their intellectual assets. These intellectual assets go beyond normal publishing regimes, and may include audiovisual objects, datasets, presentations, learning materials, scholarly publications and the research works of both faculty & students. A cohesive, centralized, and managed approach to these assets enhances opportunities for efficient use of existing research, increases opportunities for improved learning experiences and encourages collaboration within and between different disciplines and groups. The purpose of this project is to provide background information on the types of institutional repositories, discuss core features & functions of IRs, illustrate the benefits and challenges of implementation, review and compare the most prevalent software platforms for IRs, discuss how user experience plays into the institutional repository and evaluate the current SUNY repository platform; the SUNY Online Access Repository (SOAR) to develop a consolidated, centralized repository prototype in the hope that it will provide a better user experience and improved functionality across all SUNY campuses.