New Institutional Repository

A valuable new research resource for third-level students and academic staff in the North West has been officially launched by the three Institutes of Technology in the Connacht-Ulster Alliance (CUA).

The institutional repository called ‘Cual’, developed by the libraries in GMIT, IT Sligo and Letterkenny IT, hosts extensive research material from staff and students in the three colleges, such as journal articles, theses, monographs, books, book chapters and conference papers.

This significant academic resource is also a platform which showcases research on a range of topics and disciplines to the general public on http://cua.openrepository.com

The new institutional repository is the first collaborative academic initiative by the CUA. It was formally launched at a reception hosted by Letterkenny IT in Donegal last month attended by the Presidents of the three Institutes and the Registrars from GMIT and LYIT as well as programme chairs.

Margaret Waldron, GMIT Librarian, says: “The CUA Institutional Repository is a highly significant project as it provides a resource which preserves and showcases at a worldwide level the research of academics, students and researchers in GMIT, IT Sligo and LYIT. The repository will raise the profile of the researcher and in turn increase the citations to their work. We are delighted to share this educational resource with the public”.

Competition time!

Name the new CUA Institutional Repository and win a Kindle.

The CUA Institutional Repository is now up and running. The pilot phase will be finalised in January and all test items will be removed. Resources will be added to it during the month of January with a formal launch scheduled for February. Each institute of technology in the alliance (GMIT, Sligo and Letterkenny) will be adding its own material.

The Connacht Ulster Alliance Institutional Repository needs a name. The one it has at the moment  doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, it’s way too long! The new name could, for example, be an acronym, like NUIG’s institutional repository, Access to Research At NUI Galway (ARAN) or Trinity’s Access to Research Archive (TARA). It might also be a word in Irish, signifying the idea or aspiration of the repository. STÓR, meaning hoard or treasure, is the Institutional Repository of Dundalk Institute of Technology. It’s up to you, as this competition is open to the students and staff of all CUA institutions.

So get the creative juices flowing and come up with a name for the Connacht Ulster Alliance Institutional Repository and win yourself a Kindle!

You can email your entries to bernie.lally@gmit.ie by Wednesday 19th February.