1.  A brief history

The history of IRs in New Zealand is relatively short with the first being launched by the University of Otago on the 17 of November 2005, shortly after the launch of the New Zealand Digital Strategy [1] in May 2005. In May 2007, there were eight institutional repositories housed in New Zealand according to the ROAR website. The University of Otago is responsible for three repositories: the Cardrona Online Museum [2], Te Umu Eprints [3] repository, and the School of Business Repository [4].

The National Library of New Zealand has been involved in the development of repositories in New Zealand through setting up a steering group made up of representatives from across the research sector. The steering group gave an expert working party the task of exploring the issues and recommending a way forward Rankin (2005). The final report documents the outcomes of the working party’s findings which include establishing a national federation, support for local repository initiatives be implemented and that participants adopt a ‘common roadmap’ ensuring continued cooperation and collaboration Rankin (2005, pp41-43).

Importantly a number of events concerning institutional repositories in New Zealand have taken place recently. Brief summaries of the presentations made at these seminars have been noted in the Workshop Reports page.

A number of consortia have been established to support the development of repositories in New Zealand. These are discussed below with links to important parts of each consortia’s website provided. It is hoped that those participating in these consortia may be able to add to these profiles to provide more detailed information.

2.  Institutional Repositories Aotearoa (Ira)

About: The aim of Institutional Repositories Aotearoa (Ira) [5] is to make available research outputs created by staff and students from the three partner institutions through open access institutional repositories.

Participants:

• University of Auckland [6]
• University of Canterbury [7]
• Victoria University [8]

Software Platform: DSpace [9]

Project Overview:

1. Make available via the internet for access by OAI compliant search engines research outputs created by staff and students. Technical support from the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training and to work with the National Library of New Zealand to develop a national discovery service to ensure that repository content can be identified and retrieved, used in teaching, learning and research context within New Zealand.
2. Develop repositories that will meet the criteria identified in the National Library of New Zealand’s research sector report and provide a means whereby material that may have been created with public funding will be accessible. Project will provide benefits not only to partners but also to the wider tertiary and research communities of New Zealand.

The Ira project has developed a specific set of outcomes and deliverables that will be achieved at the end of the project. Further information regarding the projects anticipated outcomes, deliverables and technical information is available from the Ira Project Website [10].

3.  CODA: An Institutional Repository for the New Zealand ITP Sector

About: CODA: An Institutional Repository for the New Zealand ITP Sector [11] is a digital a commons project that highlights institutes of technology and polytechnic sector scholarship of various types, such as working papers, journal articles, dissertations and theses.

Participants:

• Canterbury Polytechnic Institute of Technology [12]
• Manukau Institute of Technology [13]
• NorthTec [14]
• UCOL: University College of Learning [15]
• Unitec New Zealand [16]
• Whitireia Community Polytechnic [17]

Software Platform: Bepress [18]

Project Overview: CODA is a consortium of Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics of New Zealand (ITPNZ) which have collaborated to develop a common institutional repository. Research and scholarly output included here have been selected and deposited by the individual institutes.

Usefully CODA have provided information about Frequently Asked Questions [19], such questions are mainly from authors asking about problems they have experienced in uploading material to the repository. Questions also relate to copyright issues (e.g. a working paper that is in the repository has now been published) and whether it is possible to deposit information related to an article.

4.  Open Access Repositories in New Zealand (OARiNZ)

About:: The Open Access Repositories in New Zealand (OARiNZ) Project [20] (led by Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) [21]) will design and build the infrastructure necessary to connect all of New Zealand’s digital research repositories that meet standards for interoperability and access.

The project targets the three key recommendations from the National Library of New Zealand’s Institutional Repositories for the Research Sector Report. The project aims to develop capability and confidence by providing tertiary education institutes with a range of repository implementation options from which to select. Principles underpinning the project include openness of systems/standards, flexibility, sustainability and inclusiveness.

Participants:

• Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) [22]
• University of Otago [23]
• National Library of New Zealand [24]
• Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology [25]
• Tairawhiti Polytechnic [26]
• Lincoln University [27]
• Bay of Plenty Polytechnic [28]
• Northland Polytechnic [29]
• Waikato Institute of Technology [30]
• Waiariki Institute of Technology [31]
• Wellington Institute of Technology [32]

Project Overview: An initial steering group was formed as a result of a workshop conducted by the Tertiary Education Committee. Preliminary concepts were presented and discussed and the synergies identified, these formed the basis of concerted discussions that were to take place over the next two weeks. Regular progress reports have been posted on the OARiNZ website.

The vision of OARiNZ includes:

1. Establishment of a National Network of Institutional Repositories
2. Support for individual institutional initiatives
3. Adoption of a “common road map [33]”

The OARiNZ Harvester [34] has been developed using the PKP Open Archives Harvester (developed by the Public Knowledge Project) and is designed to build a searchable index of metadata harvested from OAI compliant archives.

5.  Library Consortium of NZ (LCoNZ)

About: The Library Consortium of NZ (LCoNZ) [35] aim to use and develop the best enabling technologies in a collaboration which will enhance the innovative delivery of library and information resources and services to the NZ tertiary learning and research community.

Participants:

• AUT University [36]
• University of Waikato [37]
• Victoria University of Wellington [38]
• University of Otago [39]

Project Overview: This project is in partnership with Datacom and is entitled Information and Resource Access Management System (IRAMS).

The expected outcomes of the LCoNZ institutional repository project include:

1. Integrated Library Management System (ICMS)
2. Full suite of software required to access and manage licensed electronic resources, provide federated searching and deep linking at the digital content level.
3. Support for the storage, management and access to locally created digital objects.

More detailed information about the expected outcomes of the LCoNZ institutional repository project is available from the LCoNZ Project Website [40].

6.  Australasian Digital Theses Program (ADT)

About: The aim of the Australasian Digital Theses Program (ADT) [41] program is to establish a database of digital copies of theses produced by postgraduate students at various Australian and New Zealand universities.

New Zealand Participants

• AUT University [42]
• Lincoln University [43]
• Massey University [44]
• University of Auckland [45]
• University of Waikato [46]
• University of Canterbury [47]
• University of Otago [48]

7.  New Zealand resources

• AuseAccess is a wiki devoted to open access repositories in the Australasian region and is maintained by Arthur Sale
• IRA: Institutional Repositories Aotearoa [49]
• OARiNZ: Open Access Repositories in New Zealand [50]
• National Digital Strategy [51]
• LCoNZ Institutional Research Repositories Project [52]
• CODA [53]
• ADT: Australasian Digital Theses Program [54]
• Nigel Stranger & Graham McGregor. (2006). Hitting the Ground Running: Building New Zealand’s First Publicly Available Institutional Repository [55]. Information Science Discussion Paper Series. 2006/07
• TEC Institutional Repositories Wiki [56]
• DigitalCommons@Massey [57]

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