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Scholarly Communications and Publishing Services

Supporting the creation, evaluation, dissemination, and preservation of the University's scholarly output

Institutional Repository Services

An institutional repository (IR) is an online database used to collect, preserve, and disseminate digital versions of the intellectual and creative output of the University. All items in the IR (barring certain limited exceptions) are open access which means that most works in the repository are available worldwide, free of cost, to researchers and the general public via the Internet.

F.D. Bluford Library provides this service to its community as a means of increasing the reach and visibility of the scholarly and creative works produced by University faculty, students, staff, and researchers. In addition to showcasing the value of the University’s research and creative works, other benefits for supporting an IR include, but are not limited to long term preservation of the University’s scholarship, stable access to works with persistent URLS, easy discoverability of work through internet search engines such as Google, and compliance with funding agency requirements.

Content Guidelines

As stated, the IR will include the intellectual and creative output of the University’s faculty, staff, students, and researchers. Below is an example of the type of content that will be included in the IR: 

  • Art works
  • Books and book chapters
  • Conference papers and proceedings
  • Data sets
  • Learning objects
  • Performances
  • Presentations
  • Preprints or postprints of articles
  • Syllabi
  • Technical reports
  • Theses

The institutional repository can accept multiple file formats without file size limits (subject to change). Examples of file formats include 

  • Text: doc, docx, rtf, pdf
  • Images: tiff, jpeg, bmp, png, gif
  • Video: mov, , mp4
  • Audio:  mp3, wav
  • Other: ppt, xls

The repository reserves the right to save copies of submissions in alternate formats with better long term preservation prospects. The Library will retain original version of submissions. 

The Scholarly Communication Committee will make the final determination if content and file type is suitable for the institutional repository.

Eligible Participants

Institutional repository services are primarily designed for faculty, students, staff, and researchers affiliated with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. However, other participants, such as those in the surrounding community, will be considered on a case by case basis.

Metadata Standards

Dublin Core is the main metadata standard that the Library supports. However, the Library can work with authors on a variety of metadata schema as appropriate.

Guidelines for IR Submissions

The Scholarly Communication Committee will be responsible for approving submissions to the IR. Submitters will be notified of an item’s progress in the submission process.

The submission processes for both faculty and students are as follows:

Faculty and Staff Content:
Each work...

  • Must be the intellectual property of the faculty member
  • Must be a scholarly, research, creative, or educational work
  • Must not be in draft form. It must be the author’s personal text copy, or the publisher must allow archiving of the publisher’s copy
  • Will be made available for global access at no cost via the Web
  • The author/creator of each work must complete a non-exclusive license to grant F.D. Bluford Library the right to preserve and distribute the work in perpetuity
  • The author/submitter is responsible for ensuring that their submissions will not violate any author agreements with their publisher

Student Content:
Each work...

  • Must be the intellectual property of the student
  • Must not be in draft form
  • Must be a scholarly, research, creative or educational work that has been nominated for inclusion by a faculty member
  • Will be made available for global access at no cost via the Web
  • The author/creator of each work must complete a non-exclusive license to grant F.D. Bluford Library the right to preserve and distribute the work in perpetuity
  • The author/submitter is responsible for ensuring that their submissions will not violate any author agreements with their publisher.

Submitting Works to the Institutional Repository

Submitting work to the IR is easy: 

  1. Go to  http://www.library.ncat.edu/irsubmit
  2. Complete the online form and non-exclusive license
  3. Upload your article(s) and completed license form
  4. Click Submit