Re: Why Cornell's Institutional Repository Is Near-Empty

["Greg Tananbaum" <gtananbaum@gmail.com>]

Stevan concluded his recent post regarding Cornell's IR 
population struggles with the statement, "The only thing Cornell 
needs to do if it wants its IR filled with Cornell's own research 
output is to mandate it."  One might rightly wonder whether this 
is the only thing they CAN do to fill the IR.

The fact that so few institutions, particularly in the US, have 
issued such a diktat after six years of IR activity would seem to 
indicate that this is unlikely to happen en masse. (Note that one 
can argue as to whether this is a positive situation or not, and 
I am setting that aside here.)  What I wonder is whether this 
list, and the scholarly communication space generally, would be 
better served by asking whether Cornell, or any institution for 
that matter, can provide any compelling incentives short of a 
mandate to encourage wholesale IR participation.  Or is this a 
sisyphean task?

Best, Greg


Greg Tananbaum
gtananbaum@gmail.com
(510) 295-7504