Some guest librarians are coming in on Friday. They’re interested in institutional repositories, which means me. So I got to spend an hour this morning (and yes yes yes I had other things to do, I very much did) answering their questions about IRs.
I’ve done this for a number of librarians now. Surveys, exploratory interviews, random email, you name it. The same question invariably comes up: “How do I get stuff for the IR?”
I am a nice person. (Well, I like to think I am. I recognize that opinions differ on this point, however.) I like to share things. I especially like to share the answers to tough questions. If I had the answer for this one? The magic bullet? The never-fail recipe for How To Attract Content to a Digital Repository?
I would have shared it already. Truly.
I haven’t shared it, therefore I don’t have it. QED. Stevan Harnad has an answer; go ask him about it. My paraphrase of his answer is “Make IR deposit mandatory!” Sure, that’s a magic-bullet answer—if you have that kind of power. I don’t, and neither do the librarians asking me this question.
Sometimes, in inimitable reference-librarian fashion, I have to answer the question they want answered rather than the question they asked. Sometimes they’re asking, “How can I fill the IR without extra librarian work?” Simple answer: you can’t. That’s what most libraries with IRs have been trying to do, and it flat-out does not work. I have an obvious bias toward this answer, so don’t trust me—go out and try to find a counterexample.
Either the librarians are going to be depositing stuff, or they’re going to be marketing to faculty so that faculty deposit stuff, or (most likely) both. Over time, this answer may change. I hope so, because even I get tired of saying the same old things to new faculty faces. But I’m not counting on it; some things tip, some things don’t, and I have no idea whether or when IRs will tip.
Sometimes they’re asking “How can I make faculty deposit?” Same answer: you can’t. You don’t control faculty behavior. That leaves you some choices: you can lobby the people who do control faculty behavior, you can dangle carrots in front of faculty, you can take it out of faculty hands, you can build on what faculty are already doing, or you can hope for serendipity. I’m doing all of these things, to varying degrees, and if you look at the (sparse, admittedly) literature, I think you’ll find that most suggested strategies fall into one of these areas. (I don’t know how many people will admit to the last strategy I listed. I only know it’s been a vital one for me!)
Sometimes they’re asking “How do I justify my IR’s existence, if it’s not attracting stuff?” I’ll tell you: I don’t know. My job hangs off this question, and I still don’t know what the right answer is. For master’s and Ph.D institutions, electronic theses and dissertations may be the right answer. For some institutions, Special Collections has the answer. Some institutions don’t have an answer, and very possibly they shouldn’t be running an IR.
I’ll tell you this, though: if you’re trying to answer this question now, you’re almost certainly too soon. “Word is starting to get out,” someone kindly said to me today. My very first “MARS Pathfinder” finally sent me items for his collection last week; I got them into the IR today. I’ve been here seven and a half months; word is just starting to get out, and seeds I planted months ago are just starting to sprout. If you’re expecting immediate results, you shouldn’t be in this business; it takes patience, fortitude, and persistence.
If you’re trying to justify the existence of an IR that no librarian time is dedicated to—well, honestly, why did you start one if you didn’t intend to commit to it? Dump it and go do something else, or make a commitment. I’m sorry if that sounds angry, but I truly do get annoyed at times. I’ve got skin in this game, thank you; I’ve predicated my career on it, fully aware that I may have bet my stash on the wrong horse. If you believe in IRs, you’ll have to add some skin of your own. That’s just how the game works right now.
Yes, committing to an IR is a stab in the dark; nothing I say can make it any less a risk. No, it may not pan out. Yes, if it doesn’t pan out someone will accuse you of wasting all those librarian-hours. If you’re so risk-averse that that’s a problem, don’t start a bloody IR; dump the problem on a consortium or something.
My crystal ball says that a good chunk of the IRs currently in existence are going to fold, mostly for lack of commitment. My fellow repository rats need to be ready for that, because when it happens our institutions are likely to ask us what our value is. I don’t have a one-size-fits-all answer, though I’ve got an answer for myself. If you’re a repository rat, better get working on your own answer.
What all this grumpiness amounts to is, I am still throwing spaghetti at the wall like a mad thing. I don’t know and can’t tell you which strands will stick where you are. If you want to do this, throw your own spaghetti, and then let’s get together and talk about what stuck.