Institutional Repositories in Small Island States - The Open Knowledge Repository of the University of Aruba

Abstract:  Presentation by Esther Plomp for the 21st International Conference on Open Repositories, OR2026 on 8 June 2026 for the Lightning talk session.

For Small Island States (SIS), digital preservation is constrained by limited institutional and financial resources, technological infrastructure, and human capacity. This affects accessibility of data and research outputs. This lightning talk discusses the case of the Open Knowledge Repository maintained by the University of Aruba, Aruba. Taking back control of digital preservation of research outputs from University of Aruba staff is a privilege as it allows for dissemination and maintenance of our research outputs, but it is also a costly endeavor due to the small scale of the institute. Compared to countries from the Global North that are well-resourced, such as the Netherlands, the University of Aruba has access to limited staffing and financial resources to maintain the Open Knowledge Repository - despite Aruba falling into the category of a high income country. While the content of the repository is maintained by the University of Aruba, the University still relies on external experts and technical maintenance to keep the repository running. This contribution illustrates the tensions between the desire for local agency over digital preservation, and the realities of sustaining these efforts under precarious conditions even in high income countries - highlighting the uneven costs of digital preservation and the challenges of limited human capacity.