Open Access/Closed Coffers: Repositioning an Institutional Repository to Reflect Reality

During 2011, a combination of budgetary and staffing factors led the NC DOCKS institutional repository system at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG) to restructure its staffing, policies, and procedures, particularly with relation to the handling of faculty publications. A task force convened to study the issues, and its research and recommendations led to a focus on born-digital files and the scaling back of solicitation and staff support for faculty publications. As expected, the changes have led to a decline in the number of faculty publication added to the database, but student works are set to continue to provide a steady stream of additions to the IR. NC DOCKS has also embarked on a new track through a partnership with the Odum Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is in the process of adding support for management of faculty research data sets. This move helps better align the Libraries with the needs of the university’s faculty members. Through the changes outlined in this paper, NC DOCKS will continue to grow and to showcase faculty and student scholarship from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro