Become a Partner

Our repository service can help you establish your own research repository as part of our shared cluster or as a standalone service

Research repositories are embedded in the scholarly publication and research process. They enable institutions to share their work with colleagues worldwide, with a few clicks of a button and in accordance with funder open access mandates.

Our service is open to organisations seeking an open repository for your research outputs. You may be a cultural heritage institution wishing to participate in the established Shared Repository, a single organisation seeking a modern repository solution for open access publications, reports and datasets, or you may even be a consortium looking to set up another shared repository in a different sector.

How does it work?

The British Library provides a supported Repository Service for other organisations. Our own metadata, content and discovery expertise make us the ideal service hosts. We work with an external technical supplier to deliver the service. Our partner organisations deposit and manage their own content, and value our guidance in structuring their data, increased usage, and the attractive presentation of our combined research outputs.

The Shared Repository is built using open source Samvera Hyku technology, supporting our desire to embrace open science and open access to research outputs. The repository system easily handles publications, datasets and more unusual outputs such as exhibitions, blogs and software. And we offer many important features to help our users access and engage with our research:

The Shared Repository search feature searches the combined content of all partners leading to greater discovery and use of our outputs.
The embedded Universal Viewer allows users to view image files in detail, for example from your exhibitions.
Extensive metadata using international standards allows you to describe any output in detail. Our Collection Metadata colleagues are experts in repository data.
DOI identifiers can be created on deposit. DataCite DOIs make it easy to cite a work, provide a persistent URL and support best practice in managing repository content. ORCID author identifiers are also supported. And a 'pasted DOI' button auto-populates much of the bibliographic data, vastly speeding up deposits.
Where your research is publicly funded, our funder look-up allows consistent entry of funder data including associated awards and unique identifiers. Embargo periods, submission and acceptance dates and a range of visibility settings ensure your deposits meet funder Open Access mandates where required. This repository record illustrates how multiple identifiers and accurate funder data enhance the value of the repository and its open content.
Help with identifying content, exporting and migrating to the new platform where required.
Advice on content and business strategy, where relevant.
Training and guidance from our Repository Services Team.