Discover. Deliver. Preserve.
by Vincent Ciccarello
A new internet portal opens a window on the world of UniSA research.
Arrow@UniSA (http://arrow.unisa.edu.au) a digital archive of the University’s intellectual output, will allow staff, students and the wider public to easily access UniSA research.
It was launched last month as part of the national Commonwealth-funded Australian Research Repositories Online to the World (arrow) project.
Director of Library Services, Helen Livingston, said arrow@UniSA is a one-stop showcase of the breadth and diversity of the University’s research.
"The service provides an easy way to discover the work of UniSA’s inquiring minds," Livingston said.
"Research theses have been available via the Australian Digital Theses program for several years but there has been no one place to find UniSA’s output. Arrow@UniSA changes that by providing access to theses, reports and articles from every discipline not only to University members but to anyone interested in leading edge research."
One of the system’s special qualities is that it allows staff and students in postgraduate research degrees to deposit completed works in arrow@UniSA.
Authors can also determine the level of access to their content.
"It offers centralised, secure and ongoing access to UniSA’s research output and ensures its preservation, which is a central goal of arrow@UniSA," Livingston said. "It’s why we’ve given it the slogan Discover. Deliver. Preserve."
It is anticipated that by making it is easier to find UniSA’s research, research impact – a vital measurement in the new Research Quality Framework – will increase.
Livingston added that arrow@UniSA will raise the profile of UniSA, its research and researchers.
"In the future, arrow@UniSA data will be harvested by the Arrow Discovery Service, Libraries Australia, OpenDOAR and other open access discovery tools and it will be made available to the world."
Speaking at the launch, Pro Vice Chancellor of Research and Innovation, Professor Caroline McMillen said arrow@UniSA supports UniSA’s mission to build and promote individual and institutional research capacity.
"By making our research searchable and easy to find, we make it less likely that our busy colleagues overseas will miss our important contribution to their research field and make it more likely that our colleagues can cite our ideas and work," Prof McMillen said.
"We are looking forward to a world in which the citation of one’s work will be measurable and valued and this will likely apply to the full spectrum of research outputs in all disciplines from visual arts through to engineering, from humanities to health research."
For more information, visit http://arrow.unisa.edu.au or phone (08) 8302 6549