The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded $857,005 to the Georgia Institute of Technology Library and Information Center for the project, “The GALILEO Knowledge Repository (GKR): Advancing the Access and Management of Scholarly Digital Content.”
Georgia Tech, in partnership with the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, the Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Southern University, Valdosta State University, Albany State University, North Georgia College and State University, and the College of Coastal Georgia, will build a statewide digital repository to provide access to scholarly works and research information. The principal investigator on the grant is Tyler Walters, Associate Director for Technology and Resource Services, the Georgia Institute of Technology Library and Information Center; the co-PI is P. Toby Graham, Director, Digital Library of Georgia, University of Georgia Libraries.
The scholarly works and research information to be held by the GKR are materials such as:
Annual Reports; Audio/Video Recordings; Conference Papers; Electronic Theses and Dissertations; Instructional Materials; Lecture Series and Symposia Materials; Newsletters; Pre-Prints/Post-Prints; Proceedings; Research and Technical Reports; Web Sites; White Papers; and Working Papers.
The GKR program has five activities that it will complete during the grant:
- Conduct a survey and focus groups of the USG librarians’ and faculty’s usage and perceptions of digital repositories.
- Establish a service to host individual repositories for four participating USG institutions (Medical College of Georgia, Georgia Southern University, Albany State University, College of Coastal Georgia)
- Build a central, searchable web site and database from all eight GKR-related digital repositories, featuring the GKR-developed repository collection mapping tool. This will be done by harvesting database records from all eight GKR-related digital repositories (the four hosted repositories mentioned above, plus existing repositories at Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Georgia State University, and Valdosta State University).
- Establish repository-related services for the GKR partners: copyright assistance, digitization, content submission into their repository, and digital preservation
- Design and offer to a nationwide audience a symposium and workshop on managing statewide and consortial repositories. The goal of the training program is to increase the number of digital repositories operating in the U.S. and the number of information professionals with the knowledge and skills to manage repositories consortially.
The GKR project will have many important impacts on research, teaching and learning, and scholarship. Some of these impacts are:
- Increase the University System of Georgia’s (USG) visibility and prestige through global exposure to its digital scholarship and research.
- Promote information sharing and the discovery of research being conducted at the 35 USG institutions from a single web site.
- Improve access to learning for the citizens of Georgia at large.
- Create an outlet for new forms of instructional media and scholarship, including open access scholarship.
- Provide stewardship for the least permanent (i.e. non-published) elements of the USG’s intellectual works.
- Demonstrate the effectiveness of USG institutions and their faculty for assessment and accreditation purposes through enhanced access to their scholarly works.
By the project’s end, the GKR will become a comprehensive statewide repository program and has as one of its major goals to increase the number of consortially-managed digital repositories in the U.S. through training and instruction. The GKR is a new and progressive digital service from the University System of Georgia and will benefit all from the teaching and research that its institutions conduct.
