---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2006 12:55:04 +0100
From: Philip Pothen <p.pothen_at_JISC.AC.UK>
To: JISC-DEVELOPMENT_at_JISCMAIL.AC.UK
Subject: Linking UK repositories - report published today
Time is right for major investment in repositories infrastructure, says
report
The research community should be engaged at the highest level to encourage
the establishment of repositories in UK education and research, says a
report published today. While one third of UK universities have an Open
Access repository to house digital content such as research papers,
pre-prints, theses, working papers, conference proceedings, teaching
materials, etc., most have very little content in them, the report
continues.
Acknowledging that an important foundation has already been laid in the
establishment of a repository infrastructure for the UK, the report ^Ö
commissioned by JISC ^Ö says, however, that the time is right for the
development of the shared, national services upon which a step-change in the
adoption, development and use of institutional repositories now depends.
Beginning with an examination of user requirements, the report sets out
which national services will be needed to support such an infrastructure,
suggesting that support will be needed by the community particularly in the
areas of metadata provision (to support cross-searching and resource
discovery), IPR and copyright, and preservation. In addition, says the
report, ^Ñadvocacy work to the author community is critically important in
raising the levels of deposition of research postprints.^Ò
The report calls on JISC to take the leadership role in these areas and ^Ñto
construct where necessary the appropriate communication channels with the
research community, with repositories and with potential service providers,
and to coordinate their efforts.^Ò
With JISC investing £3.5m in its digital repositories programme and an
additional £13.5m over the next two years through its capital programme, the
report provides both an evidence base on which JISC can provide the ^Ñstrong
management role^Ò called for by the report, as well as a set of
recommendations upon which to focus its activities in this area.
Neil Jacobs, repositories programme manager at JISC, welcomed the
publication of the report, saying: ^Ñ"The Linking UK Repositories" report
describes a landmark study by Key Perspectives Ltd and the University of
Hull, in which organisational, technical and business models for repository
services are reviewed. The report will chart the way ahead for JISC and
others, as novel applications are built over the emerging repository
infrastructure."
The report was written by Alma Swan of Key Perspectives and Chris Awre of
the University of Hull.
The report is available from the Digital Repositories page at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=programme_digital_repositories
Dr Philip Pothen,
JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee),
King's College London,
Strand Bridge House,
138-142 The Strand (3rd Floor),
London WC2R 1HH
020 7848 2935
07887 564 006
p.pothen_at_jisc.ac.uk
http://www.jisc.ac.uk
Received on Wed Jun 07 2006 - 22:35:11 BST