REAL – the repository of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences provides a wide range of electronic library services, one of which is REAL (REpository of the Academy’s Library, from 2009). The new service was created in accordance with the criteria of the Open Archives Initiative (OAI), using the EPrints open-source software. The repository holds the final reports of the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA) projects, and in a smaller number, research articles, under the URL: http://real.mtak.hu. The sub-file named REAL-d (http://real-d.mtak.hu) stores so-called complementary materials: thesis brochures, opinions of the jury, and relevant answers. The main experience of creating these repositories can be summarised as follows: great attention should be paid to the quality assurance of materials placed at the repositories, at least to those aspects, which belong to the competence of libraries: to adequate metadata, to credibility, format. It is of major significance that the necessary metadata are available, and contain as few mistakes as possible. It is also important to store unique identifiers (e.g. DOI). Metadata should figure not only in the database behind the repository, but also in the metadata fields of PDF files, as well as in the text of the materials themselves, as articles and theses can be „torn away” from the repository-context: can be downloaded and printed, and the main metadata should even then accompany materials. The uploading of repositories with materials, content provision itself is also an important issue. It is inevitable that researchers show an increasing willingness to place their products in repositories.