Research in the open: How mandates work in practice featuring contributions by: Stéphane Goldstein, Dominic Tate, Robert Kiley, Astrid Wissenburg, Paul Davey, Julia Wallace, Charles Oppenheim, Paul Ayris, Paul Hubbard, Bill Hubbard, and Branwen Hide Presented by: Rachel Salaman, www.audiofortheweb.com Recorded: 29th May 2009, during the RSP/RIN one-day meeting Research in the open: How mandates work in practice, London [download] or [listen], [19 MB] (32.87 mins) This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

15-June-2009 [listen]

Summary

Mandating open access to research is an emotive topic, with a wide range of opinions held by the various stakeholders. There are also different ways these 'mandates' can be implemented, if indeed they are to be.

The way to resolve this, as this workshop intended, is to bring together repository managers and representatives of the different stakeholders - publishers, research funders, information professionals to discuss the issues and see what has been done already to help all those concerned to make informed choices.

Join us at the event organised by the RSP and the Research Information Network (RIN) - Research in the Open: How mandates work in practice.

In this podcast, we learn about mandating open access from:

• Stéphane Goldstein, Research Information Network
• Dominic Tate, Repositories Support Project
• Robert Kiley, Head of Digital Services at the Wellcome Library, discusses the Wellcome Trust’s approach to open access mandates.
• Astrid Wissenburg, Director of Communications and Information at the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), talks about the Research Council’s open access policy and shares the findings of a recent report on open access publishing.
• Paul Davey, Engagement Manager at UKPubMed Central (UKPMC), tells us how one of the largest repositories works in practice.
• Julia Wallace, Project Manager of PEER (Publishing and the Ecology of European Research), talks about this EC-supported project and what it aims to achieve.
• Charles Oppenheim, Professor of Information Science at Loughborough University, talks about how mandates work in practice.
• Paul Ayris, Director of Library Services at University College London, explains UCL’s approach to institutional mandates.
• Paul Hubbard, Head of Research Policy at the Higher Education Funding Council for England, outlines HEFCE’s policy on open access mandates.
• Bill Hubbard, Manager of SHERPA at the University of Nottingham, talks about institutional policies and processes for mandate compliance.
• Branwen Hide, Research Information Network

Summary: "Within this context, we are very supportive of anything which ensures that publicly funded outputs are more easily and more quickly available to other researchers and to the general public. Open access mandates are one of a number of important tools for ensuring that this happens."

15-Jun-2009

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EPrints: repository software of the future or of the past? featuring contributions by William Nixon, Kate Price, George Harvie, Alan Slevin, Alex Birchall, Sebastian Palucha, Andrew Gray and Lesley Drysdale and featuring an interview with Les Carr, EPrints technical director and training course leader Presented by: Steve Hitchcock, RSP and EPrints Recorded: 11th December 2008, during the during the RSP EPrints Training Day [download] or [listen], [30.9 MB] (33:48 mins) This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

25-March-2009 [listen]

Summary

EPrints was the first software for building institutional repositories. In this podcast we find out how trainees fared using the latest EPrints software to build and populate a repository in one session using a new Web-based page editor.

Session 1:

• 'repository users will be familiar with form-based interfaces to add content, but not to add metadata fields'
• 'very easy to get going with EPrints'
• 'admin tools are more complicated than you think'

Session 2:

• 'a practical hands-on session'
• 'old EPrints much more a programming task - the interface is more intuitive now'
• 'impressed by the new version of the software (but) this version is not available to us yet'
• 'I especially like the new metadata creation'
• IRs for the creative arts: 'visual is key - having EPrints work on those areas has been a huge help'

Session 3:

• 'going through the configuration files'
• 'can now access configuration files and edit them in a Web page editor'
• 'level of scripting in workflow was a surprise'
• 'new configuration files and Web user interface a real boon'

Interview with Les Carr:

• 'We tried to pare right back to a simple message: when you build a repository you want to build something that looks right, stores the right information, and has got information in it'
• 'We've cut a very different path to DSpace or Fedora'
• 'The number of people available to run a repository - to install and manage it within an institution - is a lot smaller than we would like it to be. We aimed for the ability to manage a repository on a limited capability'
• 'Repository software has not always had the user at the front.'
• 'Repositories have been too hard to set up and use'
• 'We believe individuals should be responsible curators for their own output, and there should be an institutional dimension to that'

More about EPrints http://www.eprints.org/

25-Mar-2009

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DRIVER: promoting digital repositories across Europe with Sophia Jones and Mary Robinson, SHERPA European development officers, and Bill Hubbard, SHERPA manager Interviewer: Steve Hitchcock, RSP Recorded: 21 November 2008, at the University of Nottingham [download] or [listen], [17.1 MB] (18:41 mins) This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

18-March-2009 [listen]

Summary

DRIVER, or Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for European Research, could be the largest repository project in the world, geographically at least. The project runs to the end of 2009, and has four main themes: search, support, unity and community.

In this podcast we find out about:

• DRIVER's European vision and perspectives
• How DRIVER views repositories and open access
• DRIVER guidelines for standardising repository metadata
  • including Mentor for sharing experience, and the validator tool to implement compliance with the guidelines
• Why researchers should use DRIVER search
• The impact of DRIVER in the UK and other countries
• Unity and community - giving political voice to European repositories
  • including the DRIVER confederation and alliances
• The future for DRIVER within Europe and beyond

More about DRIVER: http://www.driver-community.eu/

18-Mar-2009

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Digital preservation: are repositories doing enough for preservation? featuring contributions by Frances Boyle, Neil Beagrie, Barbara Sierman, Chris Awre, David Tarrant, Chris Yates, Rory McLeod, Adrian Brown, Kevin Ashley and Matthew Woollard Presented by: Steve Hitchcock, RSP and Preserv 2 project Recorded: 12th December 2008, during the DPC/RSP/DCC/JISC Workshop Tackling the Preservation Challenge: Practical Steps for Repository Managers Event [download] or [listen], [25 MB] (27.39 mins) This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

17-March-2009 [listen]

Summary

Digital preservation is a tricky subject for repositories. Nobody can object in principle, but the topic can be over-idealised. Preservation practices can be technical and specialised, there are few precedents because typical timescales to be considered are longer than the life to date of most current repositories, and costs can spiral if not based on careful planning.

The way to resolve this, as this workshop intended, is to bring together repository managers and those with digital preservation experience, to identify practical tools and services to help repositories make progress with preservation.

Join us in the kitchen (literally) of repository preservation, and find out what was cooked up.

In this podcast we find out about digital preservation from:

• Frances Boyle, DPC, on the motivations for the workshop
• Neil Beagrie, on preservation policy
• Barbara Sierman, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands, on digital preservation initiatives in the Netherlands and across Europe
• Chris Awre, University of Hull, on Fedora software: "an emphasis on durability"
• David Tarrant, University of Southampton, on EPrints software: "modular, plug-in architecture utilises external services, cloud storage"
• Chris Yates, Aberystwyth University, on DSpace software: "re-architecting of the storage layer to support preservation"
• Rory McLeod, British Library, LIFE, on digital object lifecycle analysis: "extracted the costs of a digital object"
• Adrian Brown, on preservation tools from the National Archives, PRONOM technical registry, DROID file format identification, risk assessment
• Kevin Ashley, on preservation services from the University of London Computer Centre: "repositories need to think about preservation even if in doing this they decide it's not important"
• Matthew Woollard, UK Data Archive, on what repositories can learn from data archiving practices: "continued access is important, data archives provide a service for end-users, repositories don't have clearly defined policies, strategies, operational procedures"

Summary: "It's not enough for repositories to sit back and wait for preservation services - they have to specify what they want, to be user-centred, to establish policies"

17-Mar-2009

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Fedora: optimum repository software or overkill? with Sandy Payette and Thornton Staples, Fedora Commons Interviewer: Steve Hitchcock, RSP Recorded: 22nd January 2009, during the RSP Fedora training days [download] or [listen], [29 MB] (31.28 mins) This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence.

10-March-2009 [listen]

Summary

Fedora is a dark horse among open source repository software, not the first repository software nor the most widely used. But nobody who has been to a Fedora users' day can doubt it is building one of the fastest growing, most committed and enthused communities.

Fedora isn't like other repository software, perhaps closer to a digital library tool than simply a repository. Noted for its power and flexibility, some say it has a steeper learning curve for new users. So is Fedora optimum repository software or overkill?

In this podcast we find out about:

• What Fedora stands for
• Fedora funding and its goals
• The many faces of Fedora
• Community development
• Collaboration between Fedora Commons and the DSpace Foundation, and the Duraspace cloud storage initiative
• Fedora projects (Akubra, a 'pluggable storage component'; Mulgara, an RDF database)
• Fedora in 2009

More about Fedora: http://www.fedora-commons.org/

10-Mar-2009

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