Giving birth to next generation repositories

At a time when the ground work for Institutional Repositories has been done, and the focus in the field has shifted to higher things, we consider potentially the most significant of issues. Interoperability is a word that means many things, depending on who you ask, and most definitions are far from definitive. This article shows why Interoperability, in its many forms, is important, how it characterises the coming generation of repositories, in what ways it might be used, and even a little on how it is done. It also dares to speculate briefly on the future, and the incredible things we might achieve by working together. But it also reminds us that we do these things to improve the visibility and dissemination of scholarly work, and that this should always guide us. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.