UNA’s Collier Library Transitions to New Scholarly Repository Platform

Dec. 15, 2021

Michelle R. Eubanks , UNA, at meubanks@una.edu, 256.765.4392

FLORENCE, AL – Collier Library has migrated the University of North Alabama institutional repository of scholarly research to the Ubiquity Press system, an open-source software with support, making UNA among the first in the United States to make the transition to this new platform.

“Migrating our institutional repository to the new platform hosted by Ubiquity Press furthers our commitment to open education resources, open platforms, and open technologies,” said Derek Malone, University Librarian. “The new platform is aesthetically beautiful, clean, and modern. It provides the perfect space for our research to shine.”

Known as Repository of Open Access Research, or ROAR, it houses approximately 2,500 pieces of work from UNA’s faculty, staff, and students to post, share, and collaborate on their research. Jennifer Pate, Open Education Resources and Scholarly Communication Librarian, said there is much more content to come that will continue to benefit the UNA community.

“We are excited about adding future collections to the repository, including original open education resources developed by our faculty as well as partnering with programs across campus to highlight their academic output,” she said. “Our decision to transition our repository to Ubiquity Press was part of our ongoing commitment to advancing open scholarship at UNA. The repository is built using open-source code, and Ubiquity is committed to the principals of open access.”

The contents of the repository are indexed by major search engines and open access tools. For example, work is discoverable in Google and Google Scholar and accessible across the globe.

“The possibilities afforded to us from the discoverability of our content on this platform are nearly limitless,” Malone said.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering credential, certificate, baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral programs in the colleges of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering; Business and Technology; Education and Human Sciences; and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. The first-choice University for more than 10,000 on-campus and online students, UNA is on a bucolic campus in Florence, Alabama, part of the historic and vibrant Shoals region. Lions Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of the NCAA Division I’s ASUN Conference. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: www.una.edu and www.una.edu/unaworks/