Increasing material and department diversity in the institutional repository: Outreach to art faculty and students

Abstract

Institutional repositories began as and continue to be repositories designed to primarily support text-based materials. However, the importance of supporting diverse collections and of showcasing the wide range of materials, works, and outputs across an academic institution necessitates the inclusion of non-textual materials and the development of outreach techniques to researchers and faculty members who produce work that is often difficult to collect and catalog. The Art Department at Colby College, a small, private liberal arts college in Maine, only represents 2.8% of the total faculty and student materials in the repository systems at Colby College, which include Digital Commons and JSTOR Forum. However, many of the faculty members are exhibiting artists. Students who participate in the Studio Art and in the Art History program create and showcase materials during their Senior Capstone that have been so far been underrepresented in the institutional collections. In the Spring of 2021, a new position was created at Colby College for a Scholarly Communications Librarian to further develop Colby College Libraries’ digital collections and to support the research and intellectual work of Colby Students and faculty. As part of this work, the new Scholarly Communications Librarian started to work with both the studio capstone program and an art faculty member to better capture, describe, and showcase their work. This is part of a wider goal to increase both material and departmental representation in the Colby College repository spaces, assess the pressure points and growth opportunities for the current repository infrastructures, and to increase the visibility of open access initiatives on campus. This presentation will discuss the work that has been done so far, specifically highlighting copyright and digital rights management considerations when working with artists, the lessons learned, and will conclude with an open discussion of the goals for further developing this initiative.