Digital repository is a new option for graduate students’ work to reach international exposure.

The digital repository brings together all of ISU master and Ph.D. theses and dissertations making them available to individuals around the world.

Digital repository at Iowa State has an aim to preserve and provide access to research during and after completing graduate school.

Harrison Inefuku, digital repository at Iowa State, has added over 10,000 items to the repository during its short year and a half of its existence.

“Every item we put in [the repository] has a stable URL. … That is something people can cite,” Inefuku said, “You can link to your own works and the library will work to insure people can access your work overtime.”

Parks Library is able to count the number of times the theses or dissertation are downloaded and cited and then sends the individual a report each month with the number of downloads their work received.

“One of the best benefits you can measure the impact your research is having on a download count,” Inefuku said. “You also get access to a dashboard which breaks down how many scholarship is being used.”

Inefuku said it is a great way to create an online portfolio and a presence for the job search.

The top download for the repository at Iowa State is Juhee Kang, Social media marketing in the hospitality industry, with 6,581 downloads and citations.

The repository currently has more than 100 faculty and staff documentation and represents 38 academic departments from Iowa State.

Olivia Mad-

ison, dean of Parks Library, said the dissertations online date back to 1916.

“There are not as many Ph.D. theses as masters, but they are coming,” Madison said.

Madison distrusted numbers regarding the use of the library from a graduate and faculty perceptive. The overall e-Library showed to be great assets to the research of

students.

“[The e-Library] is very high to graduate students,” Madison said. “Almost 80 percent of graduate students gave it a high importance.”

Students who chose to display work on the digital repository will own the copyrights to the work which allows individuals to build an online research portfolio and continue to update the research articles after you graduate.

Infefuku said there are only five graduate students and recent alumni on the website, but he hopes to increase this number within the year.

The repository has received downloads from Brazil, South Africa, Germany and Costa Rico, Inefuku said.

“[The digital repository] leads to citations and exposure,” Inefuku said.