Creating an institutional repository at a challenged institution.

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to show how an institutional repository can be successfully created by university libraries with limited financial and technological resources. Design/methodology/approach - In this paper the library's experience creating an institutional repository despite financial and technological limitations is recounted. Findings - The paper finds that a serviceable repository may be created by focusing on its critical elements, and adapting existing resources, including a proprietary system currently used for other digital resources. Practical implications - The paper shows that librarians should not assume that open-source systems are the only vehicles for providing institutional repositories, or that such a service is necessarily beyond their capabilities. Originality/value - Academic libraries do not have to follow an involved, idealized process to create an institutional repository based upon open-source software. Systems already at hand, even if proprietary, may be adapted and real-world limitations surmounted to create such a resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]