Institutional Repositories and the Institutional Repository: College and University Archives and Special Collections in an Era of Change
This article reports on the archival implications of the 2006 Census of Institutional Repositories in the United States1 and follow-up interviews with the developers of institutional repositories in selected colleges and universities. The findings indicate that archivists generally play a quiet but persistent role in institutional repositories, and archival and special collections materials are a major source of content in institutional repositories. Institutional repositories (IRs) are becoming an extension of the institutional repository (archives). Still, a great deal of uncertainty surrounds preservation in IRs, and a potential, albeit currently unfilled, role for the archivist exists in providing digital preservation expertise for the IR.