Challenges and lessons learned: moving from image database to institutional repository

The purpose of this paper is to chronicle the Lamar Soutter Library's effort to build an educational image database, and how the project developed into an institutional repository.

The paper is divided into three phases and highlights the organizational, political, technological and resource issues that are unique to a specialized library with a medium‐sized staff, lacking the resources of a traditional university campus. The case concludes with a list of barriers and facilitators to success and a summary of lessons learned.

The paper finds that a library with limited staff, funding, and systems development resources can initiate and support an institutional repository. Facilitators of success include clear lines of authority, a strong champion, and the appropriate technology for the project.

This paper serves as an example to libraries that are in the beginning phases of developing an institutional repository by discussing the barriers to and facilitators of success.