Evaluating the University of North Texas' Digital Collections and Institutional Repository: An Exploratory Assessment of Stakeholder Perceptions and Use

The University of North Texas (UNT) Libraries conducted a study on the value of the UNT Digital Library, including its UNT Scholarly Works institutional repository, to investigate the value of the UNT Libraries' digital repositories as perceived by UNT faculty, staff, and graduate students. This evaluation of the impact of the UNT Libraries'interventions begins a longitudinal view of the overall impact of these digital repositories in order to inform decisions and provide baseline measurements against which future assessment results can be compared. Findings include that an increase in awareness of the UNT Libraries' digital repositories is statistically associated with a greater likelihood of multiple types of use and contributions back to digital repositories. Also, graduate students are, as a whole, more likely to be aware of and use the UNT Libraries' digital repositories than faculty or staff.