"Institutional Repositories: Investigating User Groups and Comparative Evaluation Using Link Analysis"

Paul Wells has self-archived his MSc thesis "Institutional Repositories: Investigating User Groups and Comparative Evaluation Using Link Analysis" in E-LIS.

Here's an excerpt:

The aim of this investigation was to look at user groups of institutional repositories. Past research on repository users has focused on authors and depositors at the expense of other users, and little is known about what types of user groups are associated with institutional repositories. This investigation used the research techniques of link analysis and content analysis to investigate links to institutional repository websites and determine what types of user groups are using repositories. These techniques were also examined for their use in providing a comparative evaluation of institutional repositories.