Open Source Integrated Library Systems affect library functions and librarian roles

Librarians' involvement includes developing content management policies, deciding on what metadata to store and present, crafting author permission and copyright agreements, creating document submission instructions, training staff and authors in using the software to submit content, and marketing the repository concept to prospective depositors. Librarians have the technical skills to assist authors to deposit research material in the repository. They have expertise in dealing with a wide variety of formats. In addition to digital textual resources, librarians are also handling formats such as statistical, mapping, graphical, sound, and moving images. In addition, it is the skills and expertise of librarians in the areas of communication, preservation, metadata handling, advocacy and promotion that make them ideal managers of institutional repositories. This article discusses the need for these latter skills further.

As digital resources are now commonplace in academic institutions, their management and accessibility form major responsibilities for librarians. Acquiring, creating, and making available electronic resources are an extension of a library role already well established for print materials. Libraries have traditionally managed the key academic information resources of institutions. In the short term, librarians should be active in installing e-print servers locally and smoothing the path for academics to contribute to them. A newer and growing role is management of an institution's intellectual capital, including involvement with other institutional stakeholders in content management systems, virtual learning environments and knowledge management systems.

Librarians involved in institutional repository projects have reported that the effort and organizational costs required to address repository policy, content management, and promotion to academic staff dwarf the technical implementation effort. The challenge for librarians will not be the technical implementation of an e-prints service but effecting the cultural change necessary for it to become an integral part of the activities of the institution. Although the future shape of scholarly communication remains unclear, what is clear is that library and information professionals have key roles to play.