Digital Repository of Ireland: Open Access and a User-Centred Approach

"The Digital Repository of Ireland is a national, trusted digital repository for social science and humanities data, with the mission of linking, preserving, and providing access to Ireland’s social and cultural heritage. Initially funded by the Irish government over a four year period (2011-2015), the DRI is employing 40 staff across a research consortium of six partners to build the repository from the ground up. The partners include the  Royal Irish Academy (RIA, lead institute), National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM), Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), and National College of Art and Design (NCAD), and the repository will be launched in progressive phases, starting in April 2014.  In order to best serve the Irish SSH community, and in an effort to help consolidate a digital heritage community in Ireland, the DRI has taken a user-centred approach to building the repository, with a strong focus on research and development, requirements planning, and policy building.  This approach includes the adoption of open source software solutions, as well as involvement in a range of international organisations and e-infrastructures that are developing best practices in the field of digital preservation. During the first year of the project, DRI staff conducted 40 interviews with institutions across the country, in order to determine current practices in data management and digital preservation. The information collected created the basis for the first report in the DRI Series, Digital Archiving in Ireland: National Survey of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and also provided direction in terms of building repository requirements, policies and standards ..."