The Open Access (OA) movement came to be as a reaction against the enclosure of information resources, facilitated by new distribution technologies. The purpose of the OA movement is to make research results freely available. The aim of this master´s thesis is to increase the understanding of how libraries outside of the academic sphere and within research institutes relates to OA. As a theoretical framework I created two different ideologies, the OA ideology and the nonsharing ideology. I also conducted six interviews with librarians. Through an idea and ideology analysis I relate the materials to the two different ideologies. The theories used concern information commons and gifting economies. My study shows that the informants have different views of the OA ideas depending on what aspects that is in question. Especially when it comes to economics and copyright issues the informants express a great degree of criticism against the traditional publishing models. In some other aspects the informants relied on the traditional publishing and thereby on the nonsharing ideology. The idea to make research results freely available was positively viewed upon by many of the informants. They sometimes plan and have ideas connected to the OA ideology. In a few cases they also work with OA materials, but the context that the libraries functions within makes it complicated and sometimes less urgent than it is in the universities to adopt to OA to a larger extent.

abstract: Although open access publishing has been available since 1998, we know little regarding scholars' perceptions and practices toward publishing in open access outlets, especially in the social science community. Open access publishing has been slow to penetrate the field of education, yet the potential impact of open access could make this publishing method an important innovation for understanding how to support the publishing needs of education scholars. To discover these perceptions and practices that education scholars have toward open access publishing, a 51-item web-based survey was provided to scholars with known investment in open access publishing. Participants had either (1) a publication in one of 34 United States education-based open access journals or (2) a manuscript submitted for peer review in one of those 34 journals. The survey contained subscales focusing on contemporary open access themes--issues identified through a comprehensive analysis of the major outlets for scholarly news in education. Through open and axial coding, several themes were extracted. They included rights and ease of access, ease of publishing, costs, support from colleagues and administrators, and perceived quality of open access outlets. The survey showed moderate to high reliability using Cronbach's alpha. Correlation and MANOVA testing showed significant results in scholars' teaching status and peer review status of manuscripts. Additional findings indicated that non-tenured education scholars responded more strongly than tenured scholars to issues related to rights and ease of access, promotion, and quality. Scholars with manuscripts currently in peer review felt strongly about themes of rights and ease of access, cost, and promotion. The results imply the following: (1) If scholars want their research read by a wider audience, they should publish in open access journals. (2) Pro-open access policies and procedures could gain more support by ensuring open access is promoted to non-tenured scholars seeking to publish. (3) More research, forums, discussions, and education about open access need to occur in greater abundance to continue to ameliorate scholars' views about the benefits of open access publishing. (4) Institutions and departments can offer their unconditional support for open access publishing as a method of meeting promotion/tenure requirements. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Educational Psychology 2012

Investiga o uso das teses e dissertações depositadas no Lume - Repositório Digital da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, buscando saber quem usa, quais os documentos mais utilizados, seus respectivos orientadores e programas de pós-graduação.Tem o objetivo de levantar questionamentos e possíveis respostas que evidenciem a importância dos repositórios institucionais para a comunicação da literatura científica em acesso aberto numa instituição de ensino superior. A coleta de dados foi realizada em duas etapas. A primeira delas foi realizada por meio da análise estatística dos downloads ocorridos no perodo de 1º de março a 31 de maio de 2009, o que permitiu obter informações sobre o uso das teses e dissertações, orientando a seleção dos sujeitos para a etapa seguinte. A segunda etapa, qualitativa, foi desenvolvida mediante entrevistas realizadas com os professores que obtiveram o maior índice de downloads por documentos. Os entrevistados se manifestaram sobre os dados coletados, dando sua opinião sobre o seu significado, importância e possíveis usos. Mais amplamente, os resultados obtidos nas duas etapas apontam para a inegável importância dos repositórios institucionais no processo de comunicação da produção científica de uma instituição de ensino superior. / It investigates the use of the thesis and dissertations deposited on Lume Repositrio Digital da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, attempting toknow who uses it, which documents are utilized, the respective guiders and postgraduationprograms. It aims to raise questions and possible answers thatdemonstrate the importance of institutional repositories to the communication ofscientific literature in open access at an institution of higher education. Datacollection was performed in two steps. The first step was performed by statisticalanalysis of the downloads occurred in the period from March, 1st of May, 31st of 2009,which provided information about the use of thesis and dissertations, guiding theselection of subjects for the next step. The second step, qualitative, was developedthrough interviews with teachers who achieved the highest rate of downloads perdocument. The respondents expressed an opinion on the data collected, about itsmeaning, significance and possible uses. More broadly the results obtained in twosteps point to the undeniable importance of institutional repositories in thecommunication process of scientific production of an institution of higher education.

Submitted by Éder Freyre (ederfreyre@icict.fiocruz.br) on 2011-09-05T19:08:06Z No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação_final_conceicao.pdf: 984492 bytes, checksum: 59dc9b02b7a705b20ebb56911f97b9c2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-09-05T19:08:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 dissertação_final_conceicao.pdf: 984492 bytes, checksum: 59dc9b02b7a705b20ebb56911f97b9c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnológica em Saúde. Laboratório de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação em Saúde. Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil / A pesquisa analisou o papel do repositório institucional como um novo ambiente informacional para abrigar e disseminar a informação científica, produzida no âmbito de instituições de pesquisa em C & T, destacando-se a finalidade de reuso e elegendo o Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnológica em Saúde (Icict) / Fiocruz como espaço privilegiado de investigação. As transformações na comunicação científica decorrentes do advento da Internet ensejaram a revisão de literatura, que abarcou autores de estudos clássicos sobre comunicação científica bem como autores que examinam tais mudanças nos dias atuais, considerando temas como os movimentos pelo acesso livre e o repositório digital como estratégia política destes movimentos. No centro destas alterações, buscou-se focalizar o conceito de reuso da informação em suas várias acepções. Além do Icict, tomou-se como campo empírico da pesquisa duas experiências de repositórios, um implementado no Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) / Brasil e outro na Universidade do Minho / Portugal. Para a coleta de dados, foram utilizados questionários aplicados a professores que coordenam disciplinas ou módulos nos cursos de pós-graduação lato sensu do Icict e foram realizadas duas entrevistas com os gestores dos mencionados repositórios. Constatou-se que o repositório institucional, embora seja um novo espaço informacional, já encontra na literatura e junto a atores significativos dos ambientes acadêmicos e de pesquisa, grande aceitação. Indica-se, porém, que as questões como direito autoral e auto-arquivamento sejam aprofundadas. Quanto ao reuso da informação, verificou-se que é um tema reconhecido como relevante, mas ainda pouco focalizado pela literatura da área da Ciência da Informação e pouco conhecido no meio acadêmico e informacional. No entanto, viu-se que a importância do reuso já é reconhecida para apoiar atividades de ensino que, neste sentido, pode beneficiar-se do repositório e, neste, do reuso da informação. Considera-se, portanto, o tema do reuso um rico veio a ser explorado pelos estudos da área da Ciência da Informação. / The present research examined the role of an institutional repository as a new informational environment for housing and disseminating scientific information; produced in the field of research institutions of Science and Technology, by highlighting the purpose of reuse of information and by electing Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnológica em Saúde (Icict) / Fiocruz as a privileged space of research. The transformations in scholarly communication due to the advent of the Internet called for a literature review, which included authors of classical studies on scientific communication, as well as authors who examine these changes in today’s society, considering issues such as the movements for open access and digital repository as a political strategy of these movements. Central to these changes, we sought to focus on the concept of reuse of information in its various meanings. Besides Icict, two other repositories were taken as an empirical field research experience, one implemented at Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE) / Brazil and another from the Universidade do Minho / Portugal. For the data collection, questionnaires were applied to teachers who coordinated courses or modules in the post-graduation lato sensu courses of Icict and two interviews were conducted with the managers of the other listed repositories. As a result, it was observed that the institutional repository, although it is a new informational space, has a wide acceptance in the literature and by important actors in the field. It is indicated however, that detailed issues such as copyright and self-archiving should also be addressed. This was confirmed by the scientific literature and by other significant actors of academia and research. As for the reuse of information, it was observed that the theme was recognized as relevant, but poorly focused on by the literature of Information Science and little is known in the academic and informational fields. However, it was noted that the importance of reuse has been recognized as a support for teaching activities. In this way, these teaching activities may benefit from the repository and by the reuse of information. We consider, therefore, that the issue of reuse is a rich field to be explored by studies of the area of Science Information.

Investiga o uso das teses e dissertações depositadas no Lume - Repositório Digital da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, buscando saber quem usa, quais os documentos mais utilizados, seus respectivos orientadores e programas de pós-graduação.Tem o objetivo de levantar questionamentos e possíveis respostas que evidenciem a importância dos repositórios institucionais para a comunicação da literatura científica em acesso aberto numa instituição de ensino superior. A coleta de dados foi realizada em duas etapas. A primeira delas foi realizada por meio da análise estatística dos downloads ocorridos no perodo de 1º de março a 31 de maio de 2009, o que permitiu obter informações sobre o uso das teses e dissertações, orientando a seleção dos sujeitos para a etapa seguinte. A segunda etapa, qualitativa, foi desenvolvida mediante entrevistas realizadas com os professores que obtiveram o maior índice de downloads por documentos. Os entrevistados se manifestaram sobre os dados coletados, dando sua opinião sobre o seu significado, importância e possíveis usos. Mais amplamente, os resultados obtidos nas duas etapas apontam para a inegável importância dos repositórios institucionais no processo de comunicação da produção científica de uma instituição de ensino superior. / It investigates the use of the thesis and dissertations deposited on Lume Repositrio Digital da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, attempting toknow who uses it, which documents are utilized, the respective guiders and postgraduationprograms. It aims to raise questions and possible answers thatdemonstrate the importance of institutional repositories to the communication ofscientific literature in open access at an institution of higher education. Datacollection was performed in two steps. The first step was performed by statisticalanalysis of the downloads occurred in the period from March, 1st of May, 31st of 2009,which provided information about the use of thesis and dissertations, guiding theselection of subjects for the next step. The second step, qualitative, was developedthrough interviews with teachers who achieved the highest rate of downloads perdocument. The respondents expressed an opinion on the data collected, about itsmeaning, significance and possible uses. More broadly the results obtained in twosteps point to the undeniable importance of institutional repositories in thecommunication process of scientific production of an institution of higher education.

Investiga o uso das teses e dissertações depositadas no Lume - Repositório Digital da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, buscando saber quem usa, quais os documentos mais utilizados, seus respectivos orientadores e programas de pós-graduação.Tem o objetivo de levantar questionamentos e possíveis respostas que evidenciem a importância dos repositórios institucionais para a comunicação da literatura científica em acesso aberto numa instituição de ensino superior. A coleta de dados foi realizada em duas etapas. A primeira delas foi realizada por meio da análise estatística dos downloads ocorridos no perodo de 1º de março a 31 de maio de 2009, o que permitiu obter informações sobre o uso das teses e dissertações, orientando a seleção dos sujeitos para a etapa seguinte. A segunda etapa, qualitativa, foi desenvolvida mediante entrevistas realizadas com os professores que obtiveram o maior índice de downloads por documentos. Os entrevistados se manifestaram sobre os dados coletados, dando sua opinião sobre o seu significado, importância e possíveis usos. Mais amplamente, os resultados obtidos nas duas etapas apontam para a inegável importância dos repositórios institucionais no processo de comunicação da produção científica de uma instituição de ensino superior. / It investigates the use of the thesis and dissertations deposited on Lume Repositrio Digital da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, attempting toknow who uses it, which documents are utilized, the respective guiders and postgraduationprograms. It aims to raise questions and possible answers thatdemonstrate the importance of institutional repositories to the communication ofscientific literature in open access at an institution of higher education. Datacollection was performed in two steps. The first step was performed by statisticalanalysis of the downloads occurred in the period from March, 1st of May, 31st of 2009,which provided information about the use of thesis and dissertations, guiding theselection of subjects for the next step. The second step, qualitative, was developedthrough interviews with teachers who achieved the highest rate of downloads perdocument. The respondents expressed an opinion on the data collected, about itsmeaning, significance and possible uses. More broadly the results obtained in twosteps point to the undeniable importance of institutional repositories in thecommunication process of scientific production of an institution of higher education.

From 1990 to 1993 I was engaged as the Information Technology (IT) Workshop manager at Mid-Cornwall College, St. Austell. My mission during this period was to develop a new kind of IT learning environment. The main purpose was - and continues to be - to provide for mixed 'open-access’ student targets wishing to pursue generic IT activities and gain commensurate vocational qualifications. This Open-Learning (OL) environment provides on-the-job curriculum development of IT learning support systems, through a Flexible Learning (FL) management policy. An action research approach based on S-O-L provides both the methodology and technology for implementing a learning organisation. A key objective was institutional change towards the learning management policy of IT, through appropriate deployment of staffing and courseware resources to enable the practice of student centred learning. Another aim was to integrate and mix all target groups of learners together in the same domain, i. e. school leavers with adult returners for the achievement of a cost-effective, well-co-ordinated and productive learning environment. My action research applied the Centre for the Study of Human Learning's (CSHL's) ideas and tools towards the development of the IT Workshop's learning policy. I have sought to make the connection between FL delivery of the generic IT curriculum and the SOL approach towards individual and organisational learning. This came about from the link between the FL philosophy of learner-centred activity and the SOL philosophy of empowering individuals via Learning Conversations. S-O-L'Systems-7' was adopted as a conversational tool for developing the educational roles and practices of the IT Workshop. This influenced my college to make essential environmental changes to the workshop in order to develop these activities. The project also used the Personal Learning Contract (PLC) to manage and enable the 'learning-to-learn' activities of individual IT learners. With the PLC as the central tool for implementing Learning Conversations, there evolved the idea of 'Group Learning Contracts' (GLCs). This led to the practical development of 'Learning Plans' (LPs), such that IT flexible modules could be transferred to the autonomy of the learner. Evaluations from this project included sample case-study evidences of Learning Conversations obtained from individual IT case-load students. Repertory grid feedback conversations of learning experienced by individual staff members taking part in the project were also obtained. Questionnaire results from IT learners was used as another method of feedback, and conversationally evaluated using factor analysis and 'talkback' records. All the action research qualitative evidences were finally analysed using conversational techniques, leading to the overall project 'findings'.

Anlässlich der Internationalen Open Access Week (http://open-access.net/de/aktivitaeten/internationale_open_access_week/) fand in der Universitätsbibliothek eine Veranstaltung rund um das Thema Open Access statt. Herr Professor Zahn und Herr Professor Gramlich brachten in ihren Vorträgen und der darauffolgenden Diskussion ihr eindeutiges Bekenntnis für Open Access zum Ausdruck. Frau Vock von der Freien Universität Berlin ist zugleich maßgeblich am Aufbau und der Aktualisierung der Open-Access-Informationsplattform (http://open-access.net/) beteiligt. Sachkundig informierte sie über die aktuelle Problematik der Google-Buch-Suche und die Ereignisse zum Heidelberger Prozess. Da die Veranstaltung stark praxisorientiert ausgerichtet war, schloss der Vormittag mit dem Open-Access-Portal MONARCH+ der Universitätsbibliothek ab. Die Dienstleistung umfasst die Veröffentlichung von elektronischen Dokumenten auf dem zentralen Publikationsserver MONARCH, das Online-Management von Open-Access-Zeitschriften und das Publizieren im Universitätsverlag Chemnitz. Zur Erzeugung von Mehrwert für Open-Access-Veröffentlichungen laufen derzeit verschiedene DFG geförderte Projekte, deren Ergebnisse in MONARCH integriert werden können: Plagiatsuche, Zitationen, Statistik, Policy. Diese wurden kurz vorgestellt und auf weiterführende Homepages verwiesen.

1. Un premier apport de notre travail consiste à proposer un cadre théorique, analytique et conceptuel original, permettant d'approcher la notion de qualité des publications en SHS (sciences humaines et sociales) et en sciences de la communication de façon à la fois holistique et dynamique, en tant qu'elle fait l'objet de descriptions et de jugements multiples, émis par une diversité de parties prenantes, au sein et en dehors des milieux académiques. Pour ce faire, il s'agira de considérer la qualité dans ses différentes dimensions constitutives (approche holistique) tout en l'inscrivant dans le cadre d'évolutions tendancielles en matière de publication scientifique (approche dynamique) et en tenant compte de la qualité telle qu'elle est prescrite, souhaitée et mise en oeuvre par les différentes parties prenantes (chercheurs et entités prescriptrices, aux niveaux politique et managérial). En croisant de façon systématique ces trois approches - approche multidimensionnelle, rapport aux prescrits et aux souhaits, et étude des évolutions tendancielles -, il s’avérera possible d'évaluer l'incidence des différentes tendances en matière de publication scientifique – i.e. tendances à la massification, à l'internationalisation, à l' « exotérisation » (i.e. à l'ouverture vers le monde extérieur, au-delà des pairs), à la « gestionnarisation » (i.e. à l'usage des publications dans la gestion dela recherche et des chercheurs, en particulier en situation d'évaluation), à la commercialisation et à l' « enlignement » (i.e. à la mise en ligne, sur Internet) – ainsi que des prescriptions managériales et politiques qui les initient, les stimulent ou les prolongent à des degrés divers, sur la qualité de l'activité même de publier, et sur celle des différents types génériques et spécifiques d'objets publiés.2. En appliquant cette triple approche aux SHS et, plus particulièrement, au cas des sciences de la communication, nous montrerons comment la plupart des évolutions tendancielles qui sont discutées ici ainsi que des prescrits politiques et managériaux qui y affèrent aboutissent à valoriser principalement, en situation d'évaluation de la recherche et des chercheurs, la publication d'un grand nombre d'articles dans des revues savantes internationales de premier plan, destinés avant tout aux pairs, et à dévaloriser les publications, ouvertes à des publics plus locaux, rédigées en langue vernaculaire, ou qui se consacreraient à la résolution de problèmes de société. En particulier, à la faveur de la tendance à la « gestionnarisation » des publications, l'article de revue savante internationale de premier plan, ainsi que les citations qui lui sont faites par les seuls pairs, sont posés en indicateurs de performance de tout premier plan, « fixant » ainsi les pratiques de recherche et de publication des chercheurs. Cette « fixion » sera d'autant plus marquée que les indicateurs bibliométriques, à l'échelon national, seront intégrés à des processus de financement public de la recherche fondés sur les performances, et que, à l'échelon international, les indicateurs joueront un rôle prépondérant dans l'établissement des rankings des universités ainsi que des benchmarks des systèmes nationaux et régionaux de recherche. Pour autant, des prescriptions politiques sont également édictées, principalement au niveau européen, dans l'optique de la mise en oeuvre, au sein de l'Espace européen de la recherche et, dans une moindre mesure, de l'Espace européen de l'enseignement supérieur, d'une économie de la connaissance compétitive à l'échelon global et, plus particulièrement, d'un « mode 2 » de production des connaissances, qui insistent sur l'importance de davantage valoriser les résultats de la recherche, interdisciplinaire et coopérative, auprès de parties prenantes extra-académiques. En résulte une relation paradoxale entre la tendance à l'exotérisation de la recherche et des publications, et les prescrits de gestionnarisation des publications, ainsi qu'entre les prescriptions qui les sous-tendent respectivement.3. Or l'enquête que nous avons menée auprès des membres de trois sociétés savantes internationales en sciences de la communication montre combien les chercheurs de cette discipline ont désormais bien intégré les critères de qualité promus par les prescrits politiques et managériaux soutenant l'instauration d'une nouvelle « culture de la publication », à la croisée des tendances à la massification, à l'internationalisation et à la gestionnarisation des publications. Pour autant, des entretiens approfondis menés auprès de chercheurs en sciences de la communication actifs en Belgique francophone et néerlandophone n'en révèlent pas moins que ces derniers développent une attitude foncièrement ambivalente envers la culture du « publish or perish » et à l'égard de prescriptions qui sur-valorisent les revues savantes internationales de premier plan, en situation d'évaluation de la recherche et des chercheurs. D'une part, en effet, les chercheurs avec qui nous nous sommes entretenus estiment que la nouvelle culture de la publication joue un rôle bénéfique dans la professionnalisation et dans le développement d'une culture véritablement scientifique dans les sciences de la communication. Partant, la plupart d'entre eux développent des stratégies visant à aligner leurs pratiques de publication sur les prescrits. D'autre part, plusieurs répondants n'en regrettent pas moins le caractère réducteur de la survalorisation des revues savantes internationales de premier plan dans l'évaluation, et souhaitent qu'une plus grande diversité de types de publication soit prise en compte par les évaluateurs. Afin de concilier « qualité prescrite » et « qualité souhaitée » dans la qualité de leur activité effective de publication et dans celle des objets effectivement publiés (« qualité réelle »), il arrive dès lors à ces chercheurs de « bricoler » avec les prescriptions. Par ailleurs, la plupart des répondants, davantage cependant en FédérationWallonie-Bruxelles qu'en Flandre, où le financement public de la recherche est d'ores et déjà fondé en partie sur des indicateurs bibliométriques et revue-métriques, regrettent le manque d'explicite dans la formulation des prescriptions – ces dernières prenant régulièrement la forme de « scripts » plus indirects et/ou implicites, plutôt que de normes et de règles stricto sensu –, ainsi que l'absence de seuil quantitatif minimal à atteindre.4. Il nous semble par conséquent, dans une optique plus normative, que le dépôt systématique des différents types de publication produits par les chercheurs en SHS et en sciences de la communication sur des répertoires numériques institutionnels (Open Access Green) serait de nature à (contribuer à) résoudre le paradoxe des prescriptions en matière de « qualité prescrite », ainsi que l'ambivalence des perceptions des chercheurs en matière de « qualité souhaitée ». En effet, le dépôt des publications sur des répertoires institutionnels ouvre des opportunités inédites de renouveler la conversation savante qui se structure autour des objets publiés, au sein de la communauté argumentative (Kommunikationsgemeinschaft) des pairs, par le biais notamment de la revue par les pairs ouverte et grâce à la possibilité de commenter ad libitum les publications disséminées en Open Access. mais également en rendant les résultats de la recherche aisément accessibles et ré-utilisables par des parties prenantes extra-académiques. Les opportunités liées au dépôt des publications sur des répertoires Open Access (Green), en termes de qualité tant épistémique que pragmatiquede ces dernières, seront d'autant plus fécondes que le dépôt des travaux sur les répertoires institutionnels s'articulera à l'usage, par le chercheur, des instruments idoines, génériques ou dédiés, du Web participatif (Wikis, blogues, micro-blogues, réseaux sociaux, outils de partage de signets et de listes bibliographiques). Par ailleurs, les dépôts numériques fonctionnent désormais en tant qu'« outils de transparence », susceptibles de donner davantage de visibilité à des productions de recherche et des types de publication diversifiés. En situation d'évaluation de la recherche et des chercheurs, le recours aux dépôts institutionnels - pour autant qu'un mandat prescrive le dépôt de tous les travaux produits par les chercheurs de l'institution – permettrait aux évaluateurs de fonder leur jugement sur une gamme plus large et plus représentative de types de publication et de formes de communication en SHS et en sciences de la communication. De plus, grâce à la dissémination en Open Access, en conjonction avec l'usage d'une diversité d'outils du Web participatif, il devient mieux possible de soumettre les différents types de publication archivés et publiés en libre accès à des indicateurs de performance eux-mêmes diversifiés – bibliométriques, mais également « webométriques » et « altmétriques » -, fondés sur les articles plutôt que sur les revues et mieux adaptés à la diversité de leurs impacts, tant au sein qu'en dehors du cercle des pairs.5. Partant, l'Open Access (Green) nous apparaît in fine comme étant doté d'un potentiel important, en matière d'intégration de la recherche et des chercheurs en SHS et en sciences de la communication à la mise en place – au-delà d'une économie de la connaissance - d'une véritable société de la connaissance, ainsi qu'aux processus d'innovation techno-industrielle, sociale et intellectuelle qui la sous-tendent. / Doctorat en Information et communication / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Parallel to the Open Source Software movement, there is an increased demand and need for free, open access to information resources. The Open Access initiative is characterized by two strategies: namely the promotion of self-archiving or, alternatively, publishing of research articles in open-access journals. The purpose of an Institutional Repository (IR) is to provide a suitable archival environment for the self-archiving of digital items. This study provides a clear understanding of the issues surrounding the implementation of an IR. Issues discussed include software selection, as well as the development, implementation and marketing of an IR. An equally important issue is individual skills development. Attention is given to the development of the policies that are required by an organization and its main stakeholders. These policies form an essential part of the development of an information system. Issues such as acceptance, usage, population, and management of the repository are reported on. The actual work that was done at the CSIR is used as a case study. The implementation process at the CSIR and the subsequent lessons learnt are used to highlight some of problems experienced and how these problems were solved. Issues that still need investigation, e.g. long-term preservation, are discussed. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Informatics / unrestricted