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 set-up costs have already been incurred, and the evidence suggests that operating costs are modest. And for universities, there are benefits in providing a showcase for their research, and a mechanism for creating a central record of publications and other outputs.

7.56. Institutional repositories make use of a number of different software platforms, which means that users encounter different platforms and interfaces, and that cross-searching and navigation can be difficult. Most UK repositories nevertheless comply with the Open Access Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH), which allows basic metadata to be harvested to support discovery and navigation services. Repository content is increasingly exposed to and harvested by Google and other search engines; but the kinds of search and navigation functionality provided by services such as Web of Knowledge or SCOPUS, and by other more specialised services, are not available for those seeking material in repositories; search and navigation facilities are very limited by comparison.

7.57. There are a number of international initiatives to improve interoperability between repositories, through organisations such as the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR) and DL.org. At a European level, the Driver project, the second phase of which ended in December 2009, established a pan-European infrastructure for digital repositories, offering a range of sophisticated functionalities for researchers. Driver sought to “establish the successful interoperation of both data network and knowledge repositories as integral parts of the E-infrastructure for research and education in Europe.” Building on this, the OpenAIRE initiative supports the development of a network of repositories; it provides a portal for access to resources stored in these repositories, and guidance to ensure that repositories are compliant with a set of Europe-wide standards, especially relating to metadata (in order to facilitate cross-searching and harvesting). It works within the context of the EU’s open access pilot in the FP7 Framework programme, and the European Research Council’s Guidelines for Open Access.

7.58. In the UK, JISC has funded demonstrator projects on interoperability, aimed at developing “realistic scenarios regarding repository use [with] a range of computer-computer interfaces between repositories and related services and