Academic libraries, and institutional repositories in particular, play a key role in the ongoing quest for ways to gather metrics and connect the dots between researchers and research contributions in order to measure “institutional impact,” while also streamlining workflows to reduce administrative burden. Identifying accurate metrics and measurements for illustrating “impact” is a goal that many academic research institutions share, but these goals can only be met to the extent that all organizations across the research and scholarly communication landscape are using best practices and shared standards in research infrastructure. For example, persistent identifiers (PIDs) such as ORCID iDs (Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier) and DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers) have emerged as crucial best practices for establishing connections between researchers and their contributions while also serving as a mechanism for interoperability in sharing data across systems. The more institutions using persistent identifiers (PIDs) in their workflows, the more connections can be made between entities, making research objects more FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable). Also, when measuring institutional repository usage, clean, comparable, standards-based statistics are needed for accurate internal assessment, as well as for benchmarking with peer institutions.

To support institutional goals reliant on shared standards, LYRASIS serves as the community home for three consortial programs designed to lower the barrier of participation for libraries of different sizes, missions, and constituencies to use open research infrastructure best practices: the ORCID US Community, the LYRASIS DataCite US Community (for DOIs), and the IRUS (Institutional Repository Usage Statistics) US Community.

  1. ORCID US Community

ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-driven global registry of unique, persistent, digital identifiers for individuals across the globe. ORCID provides a framework for trustworthy identity management by linking research contributions and related activities across the scholarly communication ecosystem. Individuals can obtain a unique ORCID iD for free, to distinguish themselves from other researchers regardless of changes in name, affiliation, or location over time. ORCID member organizations can integrate the ORCID API (application programming interface) into local systems and workflows to reduce administrative burden and connect ORCID iD records with institutional repositories, publishing platforms, HR systems, grant applications, and more. 

The ORCID US Community was formed in 2018 in partnership between four library consortia in the US – the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA), the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA), LYRASIS, and the NorthEast Research Libraries (NERL), with LYRASIS as the administrative home. This program provides a community of practice around ORCID adoption in the US, with a consortial approach to ORCID membership, dedicated support and resources, and a reduced premium ORCID membership fee for participating organizations. With over 150 organizational members, there has been significant increase in usage of ORCID iDs by individuals in addition to institutional usage of the ORCID API in local systems to streamline publishing, reporting, and repository workflows. Check out our ORCID & Repositories blog, and ORCID adoption exemplars from ORCID US Community institutions to learn more.

  1. LYRASIS DataCite US Community

DataCite is a leading global non-profit DOI registration agency specializing in DOIs for datasets, data management plans, dissertations, images, software, sounds, and other items commonly found in institutional repositories. DataCite member organizations can assign DOIs to local materials to make data and scholarly content more accessible and citable. Building on the foundational community of practice around DOIs that many US libraries and library consortia have contributed to over the years, LYRASIS now also hosts a national DataCite consortium in the US, the LYRASIS DataCite US Community, designed to lower the barrier of participation and support more adoption and usage of DOIs (digital object identifiers) for library-hosted materials like electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs), pre-prints, datasets, open educational resources (OERs), and other items in local repositories. 

Like the ORCID US Community, the LYRASIS DataCite US Community offers membership cost-sharing and dedicated support, to provide inclusive and equitable access to persistent identifier (PID) services that might otherwise be unattainable for individual organizations on their own. This program also encourages adoption of DOIs and other PIDs, and is designed to foster a community of practice around DOIs in the US, as research institutions continue to join the growing circle of funders, publishers, and other stakeholders contributing to and benefiting from PID-driven connections in the research and scholarly communication ecosystem. 

  1. IRUS-US

Once a research institution has incorporated PIDs into their workflows, they will want to accurately measure the use of their well-identified resources. LYRASIS has partnered with Jisc, a national consortium in the UK, to offer the IRUS service. IRUS (Institutional Repository Usage Statistics) is a software service add-on for institutional repositories (IRs) that aggregates usage data on material within their repository. Institutions install the IRUS tracker, allowing Jisc to collect raw download data for all item types and process that raw data into COUNTER-conformant statistics. Those statistics are aggregated in open access statistical reports, thus allowing institutions to share usage information with individual researchers, share usage information with administration, compare usage information with peer institutions, and use usage information to identify national trends. 

Because IRUS data is open access, it can be easily studied by multiple levels of individuals both within an institution (librarians, individual scholars, research offices, deans) and in higher-level granting and funding agencies to aid in decision-making. Like ORCID iDs and DOIs, IRUS is platform independent: it already works on multiple platforms (DSpace, Eprints, Equella, Esploro, Figshare, Haplo Repository, Pure Portal, Samvera/Ruby Gem, Worktribe) and can be programmed to be incorporated within any other software available. 

To find out more about these programs and obtain a quote, please contact: