To find out, Research Services Librarian Darren Sweeper and Market Research Analyst (former Repository Coordinator and Research & Projects Specialist) Karen Ramsden conducted a study titled, .

From their abstract, “The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences and to highlight lessons learned from the establishment of the institutional repository (IR) while collaborating in a state-wide initiative to showcase the scholarly output of New Jersey researchers.”

At the time of this study, Digital Commons had existed for about 3 – 4 years. While the number of views and downloads of each paper is tracked by the repository, it was unknown as to how well the existence of it has dispersed amongst faculty and staff on campus. They also wanted to learn what users already knew about the institutional repository and if they had an understanding of why it existed. To make this determination, the research consisted of conducting , creating , and completing qualitative in-depth interviews to learn from real users about their knowledge of, and experience with Digital Commons.

Being such a valuable set of research, they were invited to publish the study as a chapter in the book titled “I Don’t Have the Time or Really Understand What This Is! Examining Faculty’s Motivation to Use (or not) ����vlog’s Institutional Repository”.

Want to learn more about their research and the results? Read and more in .

For works that cannot be displayed (for example E-books) consult the digital booklet composed by University Communications on the ����vlog Digital Commons website:

University Authors collections from previous years can been seen on the University Authors Homepage:

For more information, please to attend a briefing by Chris Marcum, Assistant Director for Open Science and Data Policy at the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. This briefing is exclusive to members of (Higher Education Leadership Initiative for Open Scholarship), a cohort of more than 80 colleges and universities committed to collective action to advance open scholarship.

Update: the briefing will take place on Tuesday, October 18 at 2pm. Please even if you did so for the previously announced date.

Make your scholarship freely available in Digital Commons!

Currently, most US federal agencies have policies that require federally funded research to be made available to the public. This research can be housed in an institutional repository, an open access journal, or in some cases, both. Sprague Library encourages our researchers to deposit their scholarly works in our university’s institutional repository, . The mission of ����vlog Digital Commons is to collect, preserve, archive and make accessible, scholarly and creative works, research data, and other materials produced by the faculty, staff and students of ����vlog in order to provide free, worldwide access to the scholarly, creative, and cultural works of the University.

For guidance on making your publications , please contact Siobhan McCarthy at mccarthys@montclair.edu.

For general information regarding please visit our or contact Karen Ramsden at ramsdenk@montclair.edu

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The presentations by the two keynote speakers — Doctors Monique Guishard (CUNY Bronx Community College) and Jason Williams (����vlog) have been posted along with a video recording from the event in the . The recording of the panel discussion will be posted at a later date.

You can use the Digital Commons to look up all sorts of research done at Montclair, including articles and book chapters done by your professors. The Commons also stores theses and dissertations done by graduate students, so if you’re thinking about grad school, you can see what kind of work has been produced by previous students.

Finally, if you produce a poster or presentation for a senior research seminar or the student research symposium, you can also deposit a copy into the Digital Commons, as long as you have a faculty advisor signature. Your work can become a permanent part of Montclair’s collection!

����vlog’s world class research is showcased in its award-winning institutional repository, ����vlog Digital Commons. With over 80,000 downloads to date, participating in the repository can help you expand the reach of your work, and raise your research profile. Additionally, the institutional repository manages and preserves your work for the long term. You can also create an author profile to help grow your web presence, connect and share your work with colleagues, and link your research to your profile. ����vlog Digital Commons, a service of Sprague Library, is search engine optimized giving your name and your content higher ranking in Google search results.

For more information please contact Karen Ramsden, repository coordinator, at ramsdenk@montclair.edu.

“We had 2,500 downloads in April 2018 when President Susan A. Cole announced the launch,” explains Karen Ramsden, the lead repository administrator for Digital Commons. “As of February 2020, we are up to over 68,000 downloads all over the world – in 177 countries.”

����vlog Digital Commons is an institutional repository that provides unlimited free access to scholarly and creative works, research data and other materials produced by the faculty, staff and students of the University and is a place where researchers and students can find others pursuing work to which they may be interested in contributing. Uploaded work ranges from a to .

“The fact that researchers, the media or simply interested individuals are able to download this free knowledge from literally anywhere around the world, offers incredible opportunities to engage with faculty across nation-state boundaries and communicate with stakeholders that are miles away from our actual work location,” says Arnaud Kurze, assistant professor of Justice Studies and frequent Digital Commons contributor who has connected with students and researchers through the repository.

The creation of Digital Commons is seen as a critical component in the University’s having achieved an R2 – Doctoral University – High Research Activity classification by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education in February 2019. (Digital Commons is now complemented by the STEM-related , a research platform, launched in January 2019 and run by Vice Provost for Research and Dean of The Graduate School Scott Herness, with Ramsden serving as lead administrator.) The University also participates in the statewide initiative, , a research management portal that identifies experts, facilities, publications, intellectual property, news and events in five of the state’s universities.

Digital Commons, a service of the Harry A. Sprague Library, is maintained by Ramsden and repository committee members Kathleen Hughes, Denise O’Shea, Mei Ling Chow, Paul Martinez, Darren Sweeper, Siobhan MCCarthy and Dean of Library Services Judith Lin Hunt. The team has worked to make Digital Commons successful by actively promoting it to the University community, resulting in thousands of uploads. The library team’s work regarding best practices with Digital Commons was recently recognized with in January 2020. Additionally, work is almost complete on integrating the existing data between both research platforms through a beta test in collaboration with provider Elsevier, with the ultimate goal of increasing the University’s research content and visibility.

“ increases its visibility within an organized collection optimized for accessibility,” says Ramsden. While the details everything scholars and researchers need to know about getting work into the Commons, Ramsden and the library team are standing by to help. “As long as you work here, if you’ve done any scholarly activities or research, you are welcome to upload, and the whole library team is happy to assist. We have the work of faculty, staff, provosts, deans, student research symposiums, archival information and dissertations. It’s a really broad scope of University activity.”

Ramsden notes that Digital Commons is also “a great way to familiarize yourself with your colleagues’ work. You can communicate with others in the field, or attract or maintain research partnerships and funding, all through your publications in Digital Commons.”

Associate Professor of Sociology Christopher Donoghue points out another use: “I’ve been using it to show students where they might find professors that share their interests and who might want to work with them on projects.”

Kurze also points to the boon for students and those outside of academia, calling Digital Commons “a Trojan horse for the democratization of higher education knowledge dissemination” – making research available through open sources while still assuring crucial quality through peer-review mechanisms.

“Our intellectual property, rather than being locked up behind expensive gatekeeping mechanisms, has become readily available to be read and spread across the web. It is a first step in the right direction.”