When William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository reached one million downloads earlier this year Lauren Seney, Access/Technical Services Librarian, and Jim Heller, Director of the Library, co-authored a campus press release about the achievement. As a result of the press release, Seney reports that two schools relatively new to repositories contacted her for advice. In addition, Seney says that:
Working with the communications office on these pieces has been a great way for me to build a relationship with them and they now make sure to send me digital copies of all of the publications they produce – even if we don’t currently have a collection in the repository to house them. We are also working together to ensure that videos filmed within the law school are not being lost with the ultimate goal being inclusion in the Scholarship Repository.
After an earlier announcement introducing the repository in the e-news last April, Seney received feedback from alumni, curious about future collections and whether or not specific content (about which the library had previously been unaware) would be included. While they did not have the rights for this material, “it was great to have suggestions about content coming from an unexpected source.”
These announcements and press releases can be a great way to generate new or renewed interest in your repository. See the articles below for more examples.
William & Mary – Law scholarship repository scores millionth download
