Collecting Loughborough’s research: the story of our Institutional Repository

In June 2005, I was appointed as a Support Services Librarian at Loughborough University with specific responsibility for the development and management of a new Institutional Repository service. Overseen by a Steering Committee, the first year was recognised as a pilot phase in which we would concentrate on developing policies; building content and promoting the service. By the end of this twelve months, the repository was officially launched by our Vice-Chancellor, demonstrating that the repository was now a permanent service which the Library would be providing for its research community. We had by this time won valuable support from a number of key sources; been given encouragement by the positive response of senior managers and established key channels of communication with important players. Two years on, in common with many other institutions, there is still much work to be done: there has been no official mandate from our University management and our advocacy work continues. This article, however, is our story so far: it explores some of the issues and challenges which we have experienced.