Getting buy-in and awareness for your institutional repository can be challenging, especially when we have limited time and staff to devote to the IR. Outreach success requires persistence, flexibility, savvy marketing, and a focus on the long view.

Before our IR, Academic Works, went live in 2016, my colleagues and I gave talks and workshops on open access and other topics. With Academic Works, our efforts now have focus and coherence. A varied outreach approach has been very helpful. In particular, print marketing has been effective. We designed a poster and other media promoting our tag line “amplify your scholarship with Academic Works.”

Reaching out to different campus stakeholders is critical. Alliance with your chief librarian or library dean is critical. Brief updates to administrators and departmental visits have proven valuable. Every year, we present Academic Works and other services to new faculty. This is an outgrowth of connecting with partners on campus via our Center for Teaching and Learning. Undergraduate research is important at my college: success with reaching students will be discussed.

One-on-one is critical: we reach out to faculty when receiving Google Scholar alerts for new publications. Encouraging self-depositing allows us to train on using the IR and discuss author’s rights and using the SPARC Addendum. Rather than focusing on quantity of items deposited, we have taken the approach that educating faculty is our ultimate goal. I’ve had wonderful conversations with my colleagues that have helped me better understand needs and establish trust.

Our new Scholarly Publishing Clinic provides consultations to faculty on the publishing life cycle, including using Academic Works, at the point of need. Still in its early stages of outreach, the Scholarly Publishing Clinic represents the next stage of our outreach.