by Jennifer Conway
The
Digital Commons of the University of Nebraska – Lincoln Libraries, an online repository of research materials
published by University of Nebraska faculty, staff and students, now contains
over 100,000 full text items. It has surpassed 50 million downloads and is now
the most accessed institutional repository in the nation.
A
dedicated team, including Paul Royster, Coordinator of Scholarly
Communications; Sue Ann Gardner, Scholarly Communications Librarian/Professor;
and Linnea Fredrickson, Production Specialist, has worked diligently to reach
this milestone. Several key elements of their work coalesced to reach this
turning point. All three individuals possess in-depth knowledge of copyright
law which contributes to an excellent record of successfully populating the
bepress Digital Commons platform the university has utilized for this purpose
since June 2005. Additionally, integral to the bepress Digital Commons platform
is their highly effective SEO (search engine optimization) which aids users in
accessing information more readily. Royster says, “We owe it all to the
researchers, scholars and students who have entrusted their materials to us. We
hope they are happy with this global distribution.”
The
Digital Commons features an interactive map that shows the downloads of papers while watching
it in real-time.
This notable achievement reflects
the Libraries vision of a system recognized as a national leader in creativity
and knowledge development, offering access to data, information and knowledge
in an environment supporting discovery, reflection, synthesis and application.
