An "Institutional Repository" (IR) is a digital archive holding research, teaching materials and other "scholarly output" created by faculty, staff and students within a college or university community. An IR should not be confused with a Disciplinary Repository (DR), which performs the same sorts of services, but for scholars within particular "disciplines" or groups of disciplines.
Institutional repositories can be classified as a type of "digital library" since they perform the main functions of digital libraries: collecting, classifying, cataloging, curating, preserving, and providing ongoing access to digital content. That content can be in the form of things like: archival images, theses or dissertations, faculty projects, and University publications, as well as other special campus collections. It may also include publications in peer-reviewed journals and materials not published elsewhere (datasets, pre-prints, post-prints, performance recordings, syllabi, theses and dissertations, book chapters etc), copyright permitting.
One unique feature of institutional repositories is that they enable researchers to "self-archive" their research and scholarly output in order to improve the visibility, usage and impact of research conducted at an institution. In this regard, many IRs feed into and support the notion of Open Access.
Because university libraries are at the intersection of research/publication/copyright and access, they typically manage or play a role in managing university IRs. The VDOT Research Library does not maintain an Institutional Repository resembling those described above, though we do manage a Digital Library Collection site to archive digital copies of selected VDOT publications.
Here are some links to well known University IRs in Virginia:
Libra (University of Virginia)
Libra makes UVA scholarship available to the world and provides safe and secure storage for the scholarly output of the UVA community. Libra is an Open Access repository, meaning that anyone can search, view, and download content.
VTechWorks (Virginia Tech)
VTechWorks provides global access to Virginia Tech scholarship. VTechWorks includes journal articles, books, theses, dissertations, conference papers, slide presentations, technical reports, working papers, administrative documents, videos, images, and more by faculty, students, and staff.
W&M ScholarWorks (William and Mary University)
W&M ScholarWorks demonstrates William & Mary’s impact on the global community through a suite of services featuring stable and open access to scholarship and research conducted by W&M scholars.
MARS (George Mason University)
MARS is a repository service of Mason Publishing and the Digital Scholarship Center at the George Mason University Libraries. Home of the Electronic Theses and Dissertations, as well as faculty research publications and data files, MARS provides access to the intellectual work of the Mason community. Whether you want to increase the circulation of your scholarship or you need help complying with Open Access mandates for your research data and publications, we are here to help.
VCU Scholars Compass (Virginia Commonwealth University)
Scholars Compass is a publishing platform for the intellectual output of VCU’s academic, research, and administrative communities. Its goal is to provide wide and stable access to the exemplary work of VCU’s faculty, researchers, students, and staff.
Note: See also the FAQ on Disciplinary Repositories (DR)
