Kent State University:
Steps to Set Up and Launch Digital Commons
Design decisions, preparation, and training: Coordinated primarily with Brenda in Consulting Services. These
steps can run concurrently with the environmental survey and citation searches described below.
1. Design tour
2. Complete and return set-up forms
3. Receive and give feedback on up to three IR design mock-ups
4. Approve design
5. Series administration training
Environmental survey and citation searches: Coordinated primarily with Peter in Outreach.
1. Agree on a timeline for the site launch and campus visit
2. Identify which ten departments to include in the environmental survey
3. Give Peter access to Web of Science and library’s subscription databases
(Peter will then take three to four weeks to conduct the environmental survey, pull citations
from Web of Science, and check permissions for these citations.)
4. Receive and review environmental survey and citation information from Peter
Content Tour: A conference call with Peter and Brenda and the core team at Kent State to explore the different
types of collections that are possible and appropriate for your IR, and discuss your potential first collections.
Launch the IR! Give Brenda formal approval to make the site live, at least a few days in advance of your desired
launch date.
Initial collections: Bepress’s Outreach team will upload eligible articles from our citation searches, and the Kent
State IR team can begin building their own content collections.
1. Decide which four departments you’d like Outreach to populate as part of the Kickstart
2. Approve text for author permission letters (Peter will provide recommendations)
3. Send author permission letters and receive author permissions
4. Approve Selected Works design with Brenda (this is a simple template)
5. Outreach will upload full-text articles and create Selected Works pages for those authors who have
given their permission
6. Schedule any desired additional training with Brenda: for managing new content, journals, Selected
Works pages, etc.
Kickstart Campus Visit
Peter and Brenda will work with you to schedule a campus visit, where we will lead a series of workshops and
seminars for the IR team and potential contributors (library staff, subject liaisons, journal editors, faculty, and
other research staff)