Availability and accessibility in an open access institutional repository: a case study

Introduction. This study explores the extent to which an institutional repository makes papers available and accessible on the open Web by using 170 journal articles housed in DigiNole Commons, the institutional repository at Florida State University. Method. To analyse the repository's impact on availability and accessibility, we conducted independent known­item title searches on both Google and Google Scholar (GS) to search for faculty publications housed in DigiNole Commons. Analysis. The extent to which the repository makes articles available and accessible was measured quantitatively and the findings that cannot be summarized with numbers were analysed qualitatively. Results. Google and Google Scholar searches provided links to DigiNole metadata for a total of 145 (85.3%) of 170 items, and to full texts for 96 (96%) of 100 items. With one exception, access to either metadata or full text required no more than three clicks. Conclusions. Overall, the results confirm the contribution of the institutional repository in making papers available and accessible. The results also reveal some impediments to the success of open access, including impediments linked to contractual arrangements between authors and publishers, impediments linked to policies, practices and technologies governing the repository itself, and the low level of faculty participation in the repository.