This page is an utter mess and just notes for me really at the moment so you're better off reading the SubVersion book!
Working on Alf (one of the servers I work with):
Import a new project into the repo to start working on:
svn import svn+ssh://jrh@alf/data/www/subversion/projects/newslib -m "Initial newslib import"
Then, in the directory you want the newslib dir in:
svn co svn+ssh://jrh@alf/data/www/subversion/projects/newslib
svn list
svn update
svn commit
svn status