Platforms, programmability, and precarity: the platformization of research repositories in academic libraries

Plantin, Jean-Christophe ORCID: 0000-0001-8041-6679 and Thomer, Andrea (2023) Platforms, programmability, and precarity: the platformization of research repositories in academic libraries. New Media & Society. ISSN 1461-4448

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Abstract

We investigate in this article how repository platforms change the sharing and preservation of digital objects in academic libraries. We use evidence drawn from semi-structured interviews with 31 data repository managers working at 21 universities using the product Figshare for institutions. We first show that repository managers use this platform to bring together actors, technologies and processes usually scattered across the library to assign to them the tasks that they value less—such as data preparation or IT maintenance—and spend more time engaging in activities they appreciate—such as raising awareness of data sharing. While this platformization of data management improves their job satisfaction, we reveal how it simultaneously accentuates the outsourcing of libraries’ core mission to private actors. We eventually discuss how this platformization can deskill librarians and perpetuate precarity politics in university libraries.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://journals.sagepub.com/home/NMS
Additional Information:	© 2023 The Authors
Divisions:	Media and Communications
Subjects:	Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Z665 Library Science. Information Science
Date Deposited:	09 May 2023 15:27
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 17:48
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/118824

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