US to bring together institutional repository usage statistics ona national scale for the first time.
Atlanta, GA – May 5, 2020 – Jisc, a not-for-profit supplier of technology for research and education in the UK, and LYRASIS, a global non-profit membership association providing technology and content solutions for libraries, museums, and archives, are joining forces to introduce Institutional Repository Usage Statistics (IRUS) in the United States.
IRUS-US is the first service to bring together standards-based usage statistics of participating repositories in the US. The service will enable US repositories to provide and gather comparable usage data, while also giving them the opportunity to benchmark usage at an international level.
Liam Earney, Jisc’s executive director of digital resources, says: “We are excited to work with LYRASIS in delivering IRUS-US. Data aggregated through IRUS-US will help research managers demonstrate the value of open access content by recording and reporting online resource usage in a consistent and credible way.”
The US is the fourth country to join the growing online repository community, alongside Australia, New Zealand and the UK. The University of Amsterdam and online library and publication platform OAPEN and CORE which hosts the world’s largest collection of open access research papers, are also using the service.
Celeste Feather, LYRASIS Senior Director of Content and Scholarly Communication Initiatives, says “We are excited to facilitate the growth of the IRUS-US community. Adoption of IRUS-US will enable US universities and research organizations to measure the impact of their institutional repository and compare the activity to reports from national and international peers using industry-recognized COUNTER-conformant statistics.” One of the first US institutions to adopt the service is the University of Michigan, using the IRUS stats to access standards-compliant data and to report on and visualize repository usage.
Jim Ottaviani, service manager for Deep Blue, the University of Michigan’s institutional repository service, comments: “Making our work available to all who need it is a foundation of our mission, and participating in international efforts helps ensure we can make that happen. We’re pleased to work with IRUS because, by doing so, we get a reliable benchmark of both our reach and of how our efforts complement those of ourpeers around the world.
Universities and research organizations can learn more about the IRUS-US service by contacting Hannah Rosen, LYRASIS Scholarly Communication Specialist, at hannah.rosen@lyrasis.org.
About LYRASISLYRASIS, a not-for-profit membership organization of more than 1,000 libraries, museums, and archives supports enduring access to its shared academic, scientific and cultural heritage through leadership in open technologies, content services, digital solutions and collaboration with archives, libraries, museums and knowledge communities worldwide.
About JiscJisc‘s vision is for the UK to be the most digitally advanced education and research nation in the world. At its heart is the super-fast national research and education network, Janet, with built-in cyber security protection. Jisc also provides technology solutions for its members (colleges, universities and research centres) and customers (public sector bodies), helps members save time and money by negotiating sector-wide deals and provides advice and practical assistance on digital technology. Jisc is funded by the UK higher and further education and research funding bodies and member institutions.
For more information, contact faye.holst@jisc.ac.uk, or call 07443 983571.