Barriers to the institutional repository network: how far is integration possible?

In our work on establishing and growing the Thoth Archiving Network, we have learned several lessons around the challenges in working with university systems, repository software versions, and the labyrinthine strands of metadata customisations that occur within repositories. Differing metadata schemas can be uniquely customized within one institution who has implemented an instance of open-source repository software, differently to another institution on the network with the same software. Issues with institutional repositories and a sustainable network are not limited to security, metadata, and software versioning, however. More high-level concerns, some administrative, are also in play. These include the level of volatility that exists within HE institutions and the brevity of contracts between universities and repository software providers. We still believe there is a benefit to involving institutional repositories around the world in helping to archive and preserve at-risk scholarly knowledge in the form of open access monographs, but we recognise the barriers that exist, in physical, technical, and contractual components, which would need to be well-considered going forward, for the benefit of both the Network and the involved institutions. Surely solutions are possible, through cooperation and collaboration. In this talk we hope to move forward the conversation.