Subject Repositories Decolonial. Open Access for Academic Documents on International Cultural Relations

The production of knowledge for international cultural relations takes place globally in institutions of different type, not only in research institutions. Those involved in international cultural relations, globally, who need access to the relevant documents are not always immediately provided with comprehensive library services. These documents can appear as classic publishers' publications or in periodicals, but also on institutional websites and in other places where so-called "grey literature" is found.

In order to meet the information needs of subject experts, the open access community has offered so-called subject repositories since the early 1990s, which make relevant documents available as a collection. These repositories are still largely operated in the "Global North". How do they work? Can they meet the global diversity of requirements? To answer these questions, different aspects have to be examined: collection guidelines, governance, technical infrastructure, workflows and cataloguing.

On the one hand, this project formulates demands for subject repositories with decolonial sensitivity and cultural humility, without assuming specific requirements. Rather, it looks for systematic flaws. On the other hand, existing approaches are analysed and documented experiences are applied for the case of a subject repository for the field of international cultural relations which currently is under construction.

The research design includes a workshop to which different experts are invited to comment on this draft of the study. These experts should include, firstly, a representative of the analysed structures/technologies/repositories, and, secondly, an expert on the subject of "digital libraries" located in the "Global South". Thirdly, a user perspective is relevant, ideally with a background in international cultural relations, based in the "Global South".