In fall 2002, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries and the Hewlett-Packard Company launched DSpace™, an open source digital repository software system. Designed to capture, store, index, preserve and redistribute scholarly research material in digital formats, DSpace™ and institutional repositories have revolutionized how scholars and researchers think about publication and scholarship. Institutional repositories have also sparked a debate as to the production, distribution and interchange of scholarly communication in a digital age. In response to these discussions, in 2003, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries and the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) in conjunction with participants drawn from the campus community began a project to evaluate the need for a digital institutional repository service. The result of this project was the creation of MINDS@UW, a DSpace™ collection for the colleges and universities in the University of Wisconsin System.

In 2005, Chalmer Davee Library took the first step towards creating a place for the University of Wisconsin-River Falls in the MINDS@UW project. By August 2005, the library had posted its first collection to the community called MINDS@UW-River Falls. Here is a brief history of what the library has been adding to the repository.

• Working in collaboration with the UWRF Office of Grants and Research, the first collection consisted of undergraduate student and faculty posters from the university’s 2005 Research, Scholarly and Creative Activity Day (RSCA Day). Since the creation of that first collection, the RSCA Day collection has grown to include posters from several RSCA events.
  
  
• In September 2006, a second collection was added to the UWRF Office of Grants and Research sub-community. This second collection includes the articles published in Endeavor, the electronic journal of undergraduate RSCA (Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities) that is published by the Office of Grants and Research.
  
  
• In August 2007, the MINDS@UW-River Falls community expanded with the addition of the UWRF Geology sub-community. Working in collaboration with Professor Bill Cordua of the UWRF geology department, the William S. Cordua, Ph.D collection includes 54 short popular science articles written on mineralogical and geological subjects. These articles first appeared in the Leaverite News newsletter of the St. Croix Rockhounds in Stillwater, MN.
  
  
• In September 2007, the library added a sub-community for the UWRF Office of Outreach and Graduate Studies. The Office of Outreach and Graduate Studies sub-community contains 2 collections that consist of electronic copies of Plan A (Graduate Theses) and Plan B (Graduate Research Papers) required for the graduate studies program. By May 2008, the first Plan B papers were added to the collection. In September 2008, the library was honored to digitize and display the Master's Thesis of Dr. John Anthony Turcheneske, Jr. that dealt with the Ku Klux Klan in northwestern Wisconsin.
  
  
• Additionally, in September 2007, the St. Croix Institute for Sustainable Community Development sub-community was created. This collection contains articles and presentations that provide information on the Institute. In 2007 and again in 2008, the library added to the collection two audio files on sustainability and the St. Croix Institute that were broadcast on Mary Jo Wagner's radio program, The West Side on WHWC, Eau Claire.
  
  
• In January 2008, the UWRF English Department sub-community was established. The first collection in the sub-community is the UWRF English Studies collection, which is comprised of exemplary student papers from a variety of classes taught in the English department at the university. Papers included in the collection are selected by individual faculty members within the English Department.
  
  
• Additionally in 2008, the library unveiled two additional collections to the UWRF English Department sub-community. The first new collection was Prologue, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls student literary and art publication. The second new collection was the establishment of the UWRF Undergraduate Literature Conference collection, which provides a space for the annual conference hosted by the English Department and Literary Society at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. This conference provides presentation venue for student work on any topic and includes presenters from campuses across the United States.
  
  
• In winter 2009, the library added a new collection preserving the brochures from the library's annual CRSCA event. The CRSCA event recognizes the intellectual and creative achievements of faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Each spring semester the library displays the articles, books, academic posters, fine and performance art, playbills and other items produced by UW-River Falls faculty and staff during the previous calendar year. All submissions are cited in a CRSCA booklet and the celebration culminates in an annual reception to honor the faculty and staff who submitted work.
  
  
• In spring 2009, the library, working in conjunction with the University Archives, began a project to digitize the university's yearbooks - the Meletean, which was published from 1912 to 1969. The first yearbook to be scanned, digitized and added to MINDS@UW-River Falls was the class of 1959, which celebrated its 50th class reunion in May 2009.  Since 2009, the library has added copies of the 1960 and 1961 Meletean. 
  
  
• Additionally in spring 2009, working the Department of Counseling & School Psychology, the library added a community highlighting the School Psychology program's directed research projects which are required for the educational specialist (Ed.S.) degree.
  
  
• In June 2009, the library added a space for the newest member to the MINDS community, the UWRF Survey Research Center (SRC). Once completed, this community will have 6 collections of reports that the SRC produces. The collections include comprehensive plan reports, labor reports, local government reports, rural development reports, UWRF reports, and other miscellaneous reports.
  
  
• By early January 2010, the MINDS@UW-River Falls project added its 200th individual item to the repository. The item was titled Impact assessment of the UW-Extension conflict team workshops A, B, C, & D focus group report and it is a part of the UWRF Survey Research Center's Other Reports Collection.
  
  
• In March 2010, the 20th individual UWRF collection was added to the project with the development of the UWRF Heath and Human Performance Senior Seminar Research Projects. Developed in partnership with the Health and Human Performance Department, this collection of submissions represents research projects conducted by groups of HHP seniors during their PED 461- Senior Seminar course. Research topics were developed by the students and represent an array of inquiries in physical education, sport and exercise science, and health.
  
  
• In April 2010, the TESOL Masters Theses and Plan B Papers collection was created.  This collection consists of graduate students’ theses and Plan B papers required for completion of the Masters of Arts in TESOL degree at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
  
  
• In the winter of 2010, the library began work on its newest collection, the GoldinBrown collection, which contains a sampling of work by Wanda Brown and Phyllis Goldin in several art forms, pen and ink drawings, music composition and songs, poetry, creative writing and essays.  In addition, the GoldinBrown Collection includes a digital copy of the new UWRF Spirit Song, Our Chance to Fly which was written and performed by Phyllis Goldin. 
  
  
• In the Fall of 2011, the UWRF Graduate Council passed a formal motion stating that all "Plan A theses and Plan B research papers must adhere to the guidelines for mandatory submission to MINDS." All graduate students submitting Plan A these and Plan B graduate research papers to the graduate office must now also send a digital copy of their work to MINDS@UW-River Falls.  The first Plan B graduate research paper following these guidelines was added to the UWRF Graduate Research Papers (Plan B) collection in December 2011.  The paper is entitled Exploration of self-identification through the mask form and world culture by graduate student Michael Hadfield, advised by Dr. Lynn Jermal and is available at: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1793/55409.
  
  
• In early January 2012, the 300th item was added to the repository.  The 300th item is Continents in Collision, a graphic textbook created by Professor Ian Williams as a sabbatical project in 2006.  The item is part of the newly created Ian Williams, Ph.D. collection located in the Geology community.  Thank you to Professor Williams for submitting his work! 
  

Now, the library is taking the next step towards establishing more sub-communities and collections within the MINDS@UW-River Falls community. If you would like to take part in the project or if you have any questions, please contact Heidi Southworth at minds@uwrf.edu or 715-425-3924.