Over the past two decades, institutional repositories (IRs) have become commonplace in academic libraries. Library workers have grown accustomed to making the case for why their institution needs an IR, but the more fundamental question of “how” remains: How should libraries use their IRs most effectively to benefit their institutions and communities?
 
Rethinking Institutional Repositories: Innovations in Management, Collections, and Inclusion aims to expand on existing scholarship around establishing a repository and increasing faculty submissions by highlighting a variety of approaches to administering IRs, increasing the variety of content, and broadening participation.
In three sections:

• IR Management
• IR Projects
• IR for All 

Chapters explore examples and plans for your IR including migration; engaging remotely; gray literature; student scholarship; partnering with university presses; creating sustainable historical community partnerships; conducting a baseline diversity, equity, and inclusion assessment; automated accessibility audits; captioning; and promoting non-traditional works.

The ideas, scholarship, and examples in Rethinking Institutional Repositories can inspire and reinvigorate how you engage with the repositories at your institutions.

This title is also available as an open access publication at https://bit.ly/IRs

Josh C. Cromwell is the scholarly communications manager at The University of Southern Mississippi. He has worked with Aquila, the university’s institutional repository, since its launch in January 2012 and has been the administrator of Aquila since July 2013. In addition to his responsibilities with the IR, he is a member of the University Libraries Copyright Taskforce and he oversees the Open Textbook Initiative, a joint venture of the Libraries and Provost’s Office to encourage the adoption of open educational resources on campus. He is also the lead organizer of the Southern Miss Institutional Repository Conference, which attracts IR managers, staff, and other librarians from across the country.