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Institutional Repositories

Institutional repositories centralize, preserve, and make accessible the knowledge generated by academic institutions. They benefit institutions by raising their profiles and scholars by bringing broader dissemination, increased use, and enhanced professional visibility of scholarly research. As such, institutional repositories represent one of the best opportunities for libraries to partner closely with faculty and to help shape the future of scholarly communications.

CARL supports the development and advancement of institutional repositories by:

    • Articulating the importance of institutional repositories
    • Improving the content recruitment at institutional repositories
    • Demonstrating the value of overlay services for Canadian institutional repositories

CARL fully supports the systematic archiving of, and access to digital research output of Canadian academic organizations into institutional repositories as stated in its Position Statement. As materials deposited in institutional repositories are held in open access, researchers and authors may want to learn more about CARL’s work in open access.

Initiatives and Resources

CARL Open Repositories Working Group

In January 2018, CARL assembled the Open Repositories Working Group, which includes representation from those managing repositories and communicating with researchers as well as library directors who guide and shape organizational priorities. Active from 2018-2022, the Group sought to establish a strategic vision for Canadian repositories and help move the community forward around shared goals and objectives.

Canadian Repositories Community of Practice

When the mandate of the ORWG came to an end in December 2022, the Canadian Repositories Community of Practice Steering Group (“Engagement Team”) was formed to bring together committed individuals with a desire to stoke the fires of engagement within the Canadian repositories community and increase the flow of information between its participants. More information about the Steering Committee is available in the Terms of Reference.

Steering Committee Members

  • Pascal Calarco (University of Windsor)
  • Priscilla Carmini (York University)
  • Robyn Hall (MacEwan University)
  • Emily Hopkins (University of Saskatchewan)
  • Tim Ribaric (Brock University)
  • Nailisa Tanner (Memorial University)

Institutional Repositories Available in Canada

A growing number of Canadian research institutions are implementing institutional repositories. These repositories are an important strategy for attaining open access, and provide a key infrastructure for the long-term preservation of digital materials. CARL has assembled a comprehensive list of: