The Inter-University Cooperation is actively supporting the development of an institutional repository for NUoL, in collaboration with the LuxDev Project Lao/031. We do so with the kind assistance of our partner EIFL.
An institutional repository is an archive for collecting, preserving, and disseminating digital copies of the intellectual output of a research institution. Repositories contain the research produced by the academic institution/University: books and books sections, conference papers, journal articles, reports, theses and dissertations, working papers and other documents. Most universities around the world have set up open access repositories, including in Asia and Southeast Asia (see for example among many Universities National University of Singapore, Mahidol University in Thailand). Having an institutional repository for a University allows to strengthen research, to preserve and research outputs, but also to improve the dissemination and visibility of a variety of scholarly materials, and to provide a free and persistent point of access to them.
We have recently organised the first two consultation meetings on the Development on the institutional repository for NUoL and the FLP (on 3rd of February 2021 and 17th of March 2021) with a hybrid format. Experts from EIFL were present via Zoom to help designing the road-map to establish NUoL’s repository.
These consultations brought together stakeholders from the central level of NUoL, and the faculty level (FLP). The meeting was chaired bу Assoc. Prof. Bounthieng Phommachanh, Vice Dean of the FLP and attended by the Director and Deputy director of NUoL Central Library, the Director of NUoL ІСТ Center, the Head of Research Office of NUoL, the Deputy head of Post Graduate office of NUoL, the Head of the FLP Lіbrагу, the Deputy head of FLP Research Division, and the persons in charge of Software Development Division of the ІСТ Center and FLP.
The participants discussed the next steps to take and agreed that effectively establishing such a repository was highly important for NUOL’s research development. The next steps towards this institutional repository will be to meet with NUOL’s presidency to officially adopt a roadmap and policy attributing responsibilities and workflows for NUoL’s open access repository.