Page 32 - Garda Journal Summer 2019

The National Digital Repository
Susie Poore looks at the National Digital Repository and its important work storing digital content from Irish institutions.
Staff at the launch of the National Digital Repository
In 2011, the Irish Government awarded a €5.2M, four year funding package to what began as Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI) Cycle 5 research project. That research project soon became the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI), a trusted digital infrastructure that allows Irish institutions to store and contribute important social, cultural and historical content.
The Royal Irish Academy is the current lead partner in the DRI association, and many other significant Irish institutions are involved. Trinity College Dublin (TCD), National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM), National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and National College of Art and Design all contribute to this valuable digital resource. The DRI now directly gets its funding from a grant awarded to The Royal Irish Academy by the Department of Education by the Department of Education and Skills via the Higher
Education Authority (HEA) and the Irish Research Council. Its excellence has also been recognised in the form of awards from Science Foundation Ireland, the Ireland Funds, Enterprise Ireland and The European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and the Ireland Funds.
Since the DRI aims to cover such a vast expanse of material, its staff reflects this diversity. Their backgrounds range anywhere from software engineering to digital imaging and archiving to designing. There are also digital librarians, data curators, educators, social scientists, humanities scholars and policy specialists. The DRI leaves no stone or expertise unturned. This platform and commitment to authentically representing Ireland combined allows students, scholars and the general public to familiarise themselves with and understand the country’s contemporary issues and cultural heritage in a way previously unforeseen.
32 GARDA JOURNAL
FEATURE | Digital Repository of Ireland