The repository began its life at Loughborough University back in June 2005. It was set up by the University Library as a pilot project with the aim of preserving and showcasing the university’s research output. The following year, in June 2006, the Institutional Repository was formally launched by the Library as an established university service.

Until 2019 the repository was known as the Institutional Repository and was housed on the open-source repository platform, DSpace. During the summer of 2019 the repository moved to the figshare platform, merging with the data repository and becoming the “Research Repository”.

Growth was challenging in the early days of the Institutional Repository as knowledge and understanding of repositories and open access was limited. However, with time, and with the involvement and support of the university community, we are now nearing almost 60,000 items in the repository.

The first research paper to be deposited in the repository was: STUBBINGS, R. and FRANKLIN, G. 2004. A critical analysis of the INFORMS project at Loughborough University. JeLit, 1(1), 31-41, available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2134/172

Loughborough academics and researchers can deposit their publications (journal articles, conference papers, book chapters, official reports etc) to the repository via the university’s LUPIN system.

Other research files, such as data, can be deposited via the repository (figshare).