Building A Digital Repository, Part I Information Structure

Create information architecture is first thing you should consider before you start. A good information structure is easy for users to navigate and browse information on your site, otherwise, it really becomes an irregular and crowed repository without organizing and sorting, and eventually, with the rapid growth of digital content, users find nothing because of malfunction.

My best practice for our digital repository on DSpace is:

• decide what you want to deposit at your digital repository. You should have your collection policy to help you make decision on acquiring original materials
• create hierarchy information structure at community and subcommunity level by discipline, which eases users to browse collection
• arrange collection by subjects or special topics, give subcommunities more flexibility to create and manage collection

Once you have decided how you are going to do with the information structure, you can start to arrange your collection.