Recently a significant interest has developed in the concept of institutional repositories as a
means by which libraries can support the communication of the research output of
universities and other research organisations. This interest has been fed by a realisation that
institutional repositories can not only improve access to research related information, but at
the same time they can serve to extend the influence of a library within a university (Carver,
2003). The enthusiasm felt for institutional repositories is expressed in article titles such as
‘Institutional repositories: the library's new role’ (Chang, 2003), and ‘Libraries in the lead:
the institutional repository phenomenon’ (Smith, 2004).