KISR launches upgraded digital repository to strengthen research infrastructure

KUWAIT, Oct 21 (KUNA) -- Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) announced Tuesday the launch of the upgraded KISR Digital Repository (KDR), describing it as a qualitative step in bolstering the national research infrastructure and a key building block toward a more open and sustainable scientific community.
Fadela Taqi, Project Lead of the Digital Repository at KISR's National Scientific and Technological Information Center, said in a press statement that developing the repository aligns with KISR's strategic direction to adopt digital preservation solutions as a core pillar that safeguards institutional knowledge outputs and ensures their continuity against loss or damage.
She emphasized the importance of sustainable access for researchers, students and decision-makers, noting that digital preservation is central to amplifying the research and development impact of scientific projects by enabling the reuse of outputs in future initiatives, thereby deepening knowledge accumulation and advancing national development.
Taqi explained that the National Scientific and Technological Information Center began years ago establishing a digital repository to preserve KISR's scientific output, starting with technical reports from its research projects, laying the groundwork for a comprehensive national repository documenting Kuwait's local scientific production.
The first phase included setting up an integrated digitization lab to execute in-house digitization using specialized equipment and a Digitization Administration Framework (DAF) developed in cooperation with the Library of Alexandria, which added advanced capabilities to the KDR platform.
This phase resulted in the digitization of more than 10,000 scientific and technical reports from KISR projects, in addition to a set of government studies, initiatives and other documents, providing open access to these research outputs and enhancing knowledge transfer domestically and internationally.
Taqi noted the upgraded KDR is built on a modern digital architecture that keeps pace with the latest technologies, improving performance efficiency, broadening support for diverse forms of scientific and knowledge content, facilitating researcher access to outputs and strengthening knowledge exchange among scientific institutions.
She added that KDR is a pioneering national project to preserve KISR's institutional memory and safeguard Kuwait's scientific heritage, ensuring long-term availability for current and future generations and serving as a key resource to support upcoming studies and research.
Taqi commended the significant role of the Library of Alexandria in developing the new release of the repository, affirming that the longstanding 2011 memorandum of understanding enabled KISR to benefit from the Library's advanced expertise in building and operating digital repositories in terms of technical infrastructure, content management standards and data accessibility.
"This achievement marks an important milestone toward realizing the strategic goals of the Science and Technology Sector. It would not have been possible without the strong support of KISR's senior management, and we hope this release will constitute a qualitative addition aligned with Kuwait's aspirations," she concluded. (end) oys.aai