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This paper aims to inform library professionals on technical issues relating to implementing and using DigiTool, proprietary software by Ex Libris, to develop an institutional repository (IR).

This paper describes Colorado State University Libraries' experience to date in developing an IR using DigiTool. Topics discussed are based on the processes and workflows, and include local customization; metadata and object ingest; implementation of handles; incorporation with web discovery; and management of statistical data.

The DigiTool, a powerful, complex, and relatively mature out‐of‐box IR platform that fulfils one's needs to establish and maintain an IR, is considered.

The experiential information and technical details on implementing and using DigiTool will be valuable to institutions that are interested in adopting this product for a similar purpose.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the DigiTool software has been used to create a university digital repository.

The paper outlines the project team's experience of using the DigiTool software and evaluates its potential for the creation of academic digital libraries.

The initial trials and first live projects demonstrate that DigiTool is a proprietary software solution with all the capabilities required to create an open access digital repository. The test work described in this paper will contribute to future enhancements to the software.

The paper will be of interest to project managers involved in the evaluation and selection of digital library software

DigiTool is relatively new to the UK market and this is a report of the first UK digital repository created using it.

To set up a protocol for electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) submission for the electronic thesis initiative pilot project at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.

An electronic thesis and dissertation submission protocol was implemented and tested. To test authoring tools, we had 50 students submit their theses or dissertations using one of four style sheets. Word‐processed files were converted to PDF and XML formats. The pilot project team evaluated DigiTool's effectiveness in digital conversion, capture of metadata and cataloguing, digital content harvesting, digital preservation, and integration with the student information system.

All theses experienced some degree of information loss during the conversion. DigiTool is still being tested for storage, cataloguing, and dissemination capability. For full implementation, three major issues need to be addressed further: conversion; metadata; and file formats.

Most of the issues that have arisen during the McGill pilot project will be mirrored at other academic institutions that are considering electronic thesis submission.

This paper provides insights into the procedures that will arise as institutions go through the process of introducing electronic thesis and dissertation submission.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of digital archiving and preservation practices and processes successfully implemented at an academic institution.

This case study chronicles the planning and actions taken to identify, select, package, and archive local digital assets for long‐term access and migration. It includes a literature review and offers selected resources as a starting point for other institutions investigating digital preservation tools and practices.

Digital preservation is a broad, evolving, and important facet of digital asset management, yet often overlooked by library administration and understated in library operations. Collaborative approaches should be considered in implementing digital preservation tools and processes with limited resources.

What is successfully in operation at CSUL may be learned by other institutions. An effective preservation plan and established workflows will give an organization the capability to maximize limited funds and staff time.

The majority of the current literature provides theories, technologies, conceptual models, and large‐scale collaborations, with relatively little describing needs, practices, operations, and experiences at a specific academic library. This paper will contribute to the literature by discussing digital preservation from actual experience, based on the work we perform, the needs we face, and the solutions we reach within our current environment.

This paper aims to clarify the relationship between researcher, digital librarian, and cataloger supporting collection building in institutional repository (IR). It also aims to propose modeling the collaborative process and outline why and how cooperative partnership is important throughout the IR content building process. The study seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge of IR collection building by including a faculty‐centered approach and level of data curation aspects than is normally found in IR content building literature.

The paper opted for an experimental approach of IR collection building, including several interviews and one expert group discussion with faculty representing the department of anthropology. The data were complemented by digital collection description and accessibility in IR, online public access catalog (OPAC) and OCLC WorldCat.

The paper provides empirical insights about how faculty contribution is brought about during IR content building. It suggests that digital librarians act as “integrating forces” on two levels: integrating the elements of level of data curation for digital objects representation and discoverability, and mediating between digital objects description and the researcher.

Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack general application. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test proposed propositions further.

The paper includes implications for the development of a mature and fully realized IR, the development of “data curators” and for managing the balance between participation and content.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study how levels of data curation can be enabled.

The paper seeks to examine the challenges of implementing DSpace at the Main Library at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago and highlights the creation of a digitization project at the Main Library that was used to promote DSpace to faculty members on the St Augustine Campus.

The paper describes the Main Library's decision to implement an institutional repository using the DSpace platform, looking at the submissions of the Michael Goldberg Collection of Postcards and the University of the West Indies theses abstracts over a period of one year.

The paper reveals that significant attention must be given to factors such as selection, content management, finance, training, metadata, security and copyright in setting up an institutional repository on the DSpace platform. It also concludes that the Main Library is yet to explore fully the capabilities of the DSpace software. Despite the constraints, it is clear that there are enormous benefits to be derived from utilizing DSpace to promote the intellectual output of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine and consequently the Main Library will continue to map a way forward in the realm of DSpace.

The research draws upon the DSpace experience of the University of the West Indies, St Augustine and serves as a model for future projects in the implementation of the DSpace software, particularly in developing countries.

The purpose of this paper is to discover whether digitized materials from special collections libraries can be accessed using screen reader technology.

The researchers looked at 69 US academic library web sites from the ARL in 2011 to determine whether textual materials sampled from their digitized special collections were readable with screen reader technology.

The researchers found that 42 percent of the sampled digital collection items are screen‐readable, while 58 percent are not readable.

Screen readers are not evaluated against one another for effectiveness with digital collections. Library web site pathways to digital special collections were not evaluated with screen readers.

This is the first study to examine the accessibility of digitized special collections materials to persons using a screen reader.