Table of Contents

Abstract                                                                                                                              

1. Introduction                                                                                                          

1.1 Rationale                                                                                                  

1.2 Research Aim                                                                                           

1.3 Research Questions                                                                                 

2. Literature Review                                                                                                  

            2.1 Introduction                                                                                              

            2.2 Origins of Institutional Repositories                                                        

            2.3 Definitions                                                                                                

2.4 Technical Aspects of Institutional Repositories                                       

2.5 Open Access                                                                                             

2.6 Institutional Repository Costs                                                                  

2.7 Repository Users                                                                                      

2.8 Evaluating Institutional Repositories                                                       

2.9 Barriers to Future Success                                                                       

2.10 Webometrics and Link Analysis                                                             

2.11 Link Analysis, Institutional Repositories and Users                                 

3. Research Design

      3.1 Introduction                                                                                              

            3.2 Literature Review                                                                                     

            3.3 General Approach                                                                                    

            3.4 Alternative Methodologies                                                                      

            3.5 Pilot Study                                                                                                 

            3.6 Data Collection and Analysis                                                                    

                        3.6.1 Link Analysis                                                                              

                        3.6.2 Content Analysis                                                                        

            3.7 Sampling and Access                                                                                

            3.8 Ethical Issues                                                                                            

            3.9 Validity and Reliability                                                                             

4. Findings and Discussion                                                                                   

4.1 Introduction                                                                                              

4.2 Institutions Investigated                                                                           

4.3 Link Analysis Results                                                                                

            4.3.1 Overview                                                                                   

            4.3.2 Top Level Domains                                                                    

            4.3.3 Second Top Level Domains                                                       

4.4 Content Analysis                                                                                       

            4.4.1 General Observations                                                               

            4.4.2 Types of Pages Containing In-Links (Source Pages)                  

            4.4.3 Specificity of In-Links (Target Pages)                                        

            4.4.4 In-Link Motivations                                                                    

            4.4.5 Possible User Groups                                                                 

5. Conclusion                                                                                                              

5.1 Introduction                                                                                              

5.2 Research Questions                                                                                 

            5.2.1 Can link analysis be used to identify institutional

            repository user groups?                                                                     

5.2.2 Can link analysis be used as a comparative evaluation tool

for institutional repositories?                                                             

5.3 Evaluation                                                                                                

5.4 Implications                                                                                              

5.5 Future Research                                                                                       

6. References and Bibliography                                                                                 

7. Appendices                                                                                                             

            7.1 Appendix A                                                                                               

            7.2 Appendix B                                                                                               

List of Figures and Tables