Linking repositories: Scoping the development of cross‐institutional user‐oriented services

The purpose of the linking repositories study was to conduct research to identify appropriate sustainable technical and organisational models to support the development of end‐user oriented services across repositories. The work covered four overlapping strands: user and community requirements, roles and responsibilities, technical architecture and infrastructure, and business and management models.

Interviews, focus groups and a questionnaire were used to elicit the knowledge held. This information was combined with a literature review and reported alongside the proposed models derived from an analysis of the information gathered.

Five distinct groups of end‐users were identified and their respective roles and responsibilities identified. Relevant services to serve these groups were also identified and a services model constructed showing the relationships between them. An aggregation model is proposed to support technical development. A range of business models are suggested, each of which may be applicable in different circumstances.

The models contain a series of recommendations for subsequent research and testing to establish the relative merits of the models proposed and develop these further.

The technical model in particular makes a number of practical recommendations for how repositories need to be structured so as to best support end‐user services. These are complementary to recommendations on repository management.

The research reported in this paper represents a consolidation of views reported previously, and a novel analysis of this information to assist in taking repository service development further.