SPARC Institutional Repository Checklist & Resource Guide by Raym Crowe http://www.arl.org/sparc/IR/IR_Guide.html
Posted to http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/fosblog.html by Peter Suber at 5:31 PM. Excerpts: "Institutional repositories complement existing metrics for gauging institutional productivity and prestige. Where this increased visibility reflects a high quality of scholarship, this demonstration of value can translate into tangible benefits, including the funding -- from both public and private sources -- that derives in part from an institution's status and reputation." "While gaining credit for professional advancement is a key motivation for academic publishing, the primary reason is communicating with others about their research and contributing to the advancement of knowledge in their field. The principal author benefit of participating in an institutional repository [is] enhanced professional visibility... This visibility and awareness is driven by both broader access and increased use." "No library can afford a subscription to every possible journal, rendering much of the research literature inaccessible to many of an institution's researchers. Interoperability protocols and standards, when applied to institutional repositories, create the potential for a global network of cross-searchable research information. By design, networked open access repositories lower access barriers and offer the widest possible dissemination of a scholar's work." "A related author benefit derives from the increased article impact that open access papers experience compared to their offline, fee-based counterparts, whether print or electronic. Research has demonstrated that, with appropriate indexing and search mechanisms in place, open access online articles have appreciably higher citation rates than traditionally published articles. This type of visibility and awareness bodes well for both the individual author and for the author's host institution."