Assessing the Effects of Updated Metadata Workflows in an Institutional Repository

Ali Krzton

The Auburn University Scholarly Repository is a locally-hosted generalist DSpace repository. DOIs have been registered through DataCite for new deposits, including datasets, since 2020. In 2024, AU Libraries personnel phased out the automated workflow in which repository metadata was crosswalked and pushed via script to DataCite. A new workflow which involved manual creation of metadata for each DOI in DataCite based on the repository record, plus additional information, was adopted instead. This allowed for richer and more specialized metadata on the DOI registration side than what DSpace could accommodate and, in particular, for datasets to be linked bidirectionally to any associated publications. Shortly after the rollout of the manual DOI workflow, the Research Data Management Librarian undertook an assessment of project outcomes. Key results of this assessment will be presented in this session. These include overall usage trends under the new DOI request system, number of retrospective improvements made to the metadata of already-registered DOIs, quality improvements to existing deposits in the AU Scholarly Repository, and recommendations made by the Metadata Librarian after reviewing a sample of records in both the repository and DataCite. As the project involved an undergraduate student fellow, an evaluation of their work and implications for trainings was included in the assessment. The impact of these changes on broader campus discussions of grant compliance and research metrics will also be discussed. Lessons learned from this project may help other institutions managing data repositories decide whether and how to customize their DOI workflows in the interest of better integration with scholarly reporting infrastructure.