The long and winding road: Institutional and disciplinary repository at Saarland University and State Library

Purpose of this paper The article describes the Open Access archiving of scientific primary and secondary literature on the institutional and the disciplinary repository of the Saarland University and State Library. The challenges, opportunities and success factors of both repositories are compared and evaluated. Approach The article is based on the findings and experiences of eight years of Open Access archiving practice. Findings Basic requirements for success and acceptance are quality control and standardisation; that could be proved for example by an official certificate, visibility and dissemination; researchers emphasize that their documents are indexed by the databases most common within their community. This applies especially to disciplinary repositories. Value of paper Universities should undoubtedly offer an institutional repository. Usually the university library runs this repository. The article lists some key points that should be considered when an organisation plans to start respectively run a institutional or disciplinary repository.