All of these changes put libraries exploring IRs for the first time in an enviable position. The
products have richer feature sets, and all the major platforms are available as a hosted service,
which arguably has a lower total cost of ownership and is less time-consuming than running an IR
locally. Librarians are now truly free to compare platforms by focusing on the critical features that
will address their needs and make their repositories successful. This guide compares the features of
the major platforms and is intended to help libraries focus on which features will help facilitate the
success of their repository. The comparison is divided into eleven categories to help librarians
identify the features that are most important to building a successful institutional repository
program at their institution.