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Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to introduce Desa Informasi (Information Village), an institutional repository project carried out by Petra Christian University Library in Surabaya, Indonesia, and discuss its potential for enabling academic libraries to remain relevant in the digital era. Design/methodology/approach - Definitions of an institutional repository are discussed and a short description of Desa Informasi and its digital contents are given. The potential of the digital contents in the repository as a "new species" of resource, as well as for a base for offering new services by academic libraries, is discussed. Lastly, the possibility of an institutional repository project being used by academic libraries to reach out to society is described, with relevant examples from the Desa Informasi project. Findings - An institutional repository project can result in "new" resources and services for academic libraries, and has the potential to reach out to communities outside their traditional user base. Originality/value - This paper identifies opportunities for academic libraries to remain relevant in the digital era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose-- To examine the relationship between deposit of electronic theses in institutional and archival repositories. Specifically the paper considers the automated export of theses for deposit in the archival repository in continuation of the existing arrangement in Wales for paper-based theses. Design/methodology/approach-- The paper presents a description of software that makes use of the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) as the first stage in the automatic import and ingest of items between institutional and archival repositories. The implications of this approach on the management of the institutional repository are also considered. Findings-- The paper shows that OAI-PMH is a useful approach to harvesting the metadata for items to be imported into an archival repository. This reduces the difficulty of maintenance of the import and export software components albeit at the possible expense of necessitating certain requirements on the management of the institutional repository. Research implications/limitations-- The research shows that institutions can make use of OAI-PMH as a part of an automated export/import process, encouraging the preservation of multiple copies of digital items for increased safety of the content. Practical implications-- The software has been developed and is being tested. It is proving capable of performing the required harvesting but the relative imprecision of searching in OAI-PMH has implications for the management of the exporting repository. These are discussed. Originality/value-- The paper presents a description and discussion of novel software components that enable the use of OAI-PMH as the first stage in the export and import of digital items between repositories, independently (as far as is practicable) of the software used by the repositories themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - To examine how the synergy of open access and open source have been used at Edinburgh University Library to design and implement an e-thesis service, and to offer a comfortable theoretical framework to aid others. Design/methodology/approach - The concepts of open access and open source are introduced and compared to show the conceptual relationship between them and the natural partnering of these approaches to information freedom. The development of the open access repository (Edinburgh Research Archive, ERA) and the related open source software (Tapir for DSpace) are then examined as an opportunity for other implementers and developers to gain insight, both technical and non-technical. Findings - That open access and open source are a natural and forward looking way to develop e-theses and other research material repositories. The discussion of developing open source and the brief study of the creation of ERA show us that this approach is both warranted and useful. Research limitations/implications - It shows how institutions can leverage open source technology successfully, and further consideration must be given to this development methodology. Practical implications - Software and documentation outcomes available for the community have been produced should aid the further research in this area and provide a good starting point for institutions. Originality/value - We discuss for the first time both the theoretical aspects and the practical considerations surrounding an e-theses archive which is of value to any group of information professionals considering similar activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]