UNCG Institutional Repository
In support of the research and teaching missions of UNCG, the University Libraries are undertaking an initiative to collect, preserve, index, and distribute scholarly works of UNCG's faculty in order to make their works available to a global audience via the Internet. The goal of the UNCG Institutional Repository is to maximize the visibility and influence of faculty research. The Repository is a form of Green Open-Access archiving, which is achieved when an author archives a personal electronic copy (usually the final Microsoft Word version) of an article in a disciplinary repository (such as PubMed Central) or an institutional repository (such as MIT’s D-Space, the University of California’s e-Scholarship, and the UNCG Institutional Repository). Although most of the works archived in the UNCG IR will be in the form of printed words, such as journal articles and technical reports, other formats also can be included in the IR, including audio and video. Books are rarely included in IRs.
Faculty Benefits from Archiving Works in the UNCG IR
- Works are archived permanently, with a stable server and a URL that will never break.
- Authors with works in the IR enjoy a larger community of readers.
- Researchers worldwide have continuous and perpetual access to publications in the IR.
- Although the UNCG IR has its own searching interface, most researchers will use an Internet search engine, such as Google, to discover works archived in the IR.
- Google is a primary discovery tool for a vast number of researchers.
- Google “crawls” IRs for new material, provides full-text keyword access, and gives preferential treatment to works in IRs.
- Studies show that, across all disciplines, open-access articles, such as those in an IR, have greater research impact than traditional publications—open-access articles are discovered and read by more scholars and cited more frequently.
- For UNCG, the IR is a great way of validating and showcasing the value of the university’s faculty to society outside the classroom (UNC Tomorrow, NC taxpayers, and more).
Content Criteria for the UNCG IR
- Each work must be the intellectual property of a UNCG faculty member. (Exception - theses and dissertations will also be included in the IR.)
- It must be complete and in final form.
- It must be a scholarly, research, or educational work.
- It must be made available for global access at no cost via the Web.
- The author/creator of each work must grant to UNCG Libraries the non-exclusive right to preserve and distribute the work in perpetuity.
- Contributions to the UNCG IR are entirely voluntary; should the author later wish to remove any contribution, the Libraries will comply with the request.
A Simple Process to Contribute Works to the UNCG IR
Any faculty member interested in contributing works to the UNCG IR should contact Stephen Dew, Collections & Scholarly Resources Coordinator, shdew@uncg.edu
To begin the process, send Dew a list of your works. The Libraries will verify which publishers allow self-archiving and will send you a list of works that are permitted. The Libraries may be able to scan some of the works, but for some, you may need to send a copy to Dew (usually as an e-mail attachment).
