What is an institutional repository?
An institutional repository (IR) is a digital collection of a university’s intellectual output. Institutional repositories centralize, preserve, and make accessible the knowledge generated by academic institutions. Please visit the Canadian Association of Research Libraries Institutional Repository Project: Online Resource Portal for more information .
“A university-based institutional repository is a set of services that a university offers to the members of its community for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community members. It is most essentially an organizational commitment to the stewardship of these digital materials, including long-term preservation where appropriate, as well as organization and access or distribution.” Lynch, Clifford A. “Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age” ARL, no. 226 (February 2003): 1-7.
