Overview of Project

Background

The Welsh Repository Network (WRN) Enhancement Project seeks to build on the technical infrastructure established during the WRN Start-Up project by investigating the potential of a collaborative, centrally managed model for accelerating the development and uptake of repository services in HEIs in Wales and across the UK as a whole. The project will not only sustain already established WRN support mechanisms but also investigate a number of value added outputs which spin out from the support agenda, including: exploratory collaborative models for mediated material ingest; support tools and services to enhance functionality and promote uptake; and developmental work on creating a Welsh Thesis Harvesting Service in conjunction with the National Library of Wales.

The vision that underpins the project is of a set of fully functional, independent institutional repositories that operate within a collaborative support environment. This environment will facilitate and encourage the sharing of resources, experience and expertise for the purpose of providing innovative, efficient repository services to the academic community in Wales. The project will enable institutions to address the Welsh Assembly Government objectives in respect of maximising the impact of universities, encouraging collaboration between institutions and tackling disadvantage through the provision of research and learning materials using the Open Access model. Specific focus will be maintained on bi-lingual provision of repositories and exposing material of special Welsh interest to allow it to be aggregated and made accessible to the HE community. The project will also seek to make a significant contribution to the overall aims and objectives of the JISC Information Environment Programme 2009-2011.

Aims and Objectives

The project will offer continued and enhanced levels of support that will enable all 12 HEIs to have improved and better populated institutional repositories by the end of the project. At a more strategic level the project will act as a building block to enhance the interoperable network of institutional repositories in Wales based on common standards and international protocols.

This wide ranging project seeks to specifically address the following:

• The project will improve community engagement with repository matters in Welsh HEIs, demonstrated through increased rates of academic participation in repositories across the sector.
• The project will deliver a 100% increase in the number of deposits in Welsh repositories.
• The project team will establish engage and drive forward appropriate partnerships across the UK repository community to ensure a joined up approach appropriate to community needs.
• The project will utilise innovative communication methods to develop and sustain repository administrator commitment to the project outcomes.
• The project team will share widely the learning engendered through support calls received and deliver 12 specific learning objects on repository management.
• The project will investigate the creation of a national mediated repository deposit service utilising central metadata and copyright expertise established within the project team. The aim will be to explore whether outsourcing repository record creation enhances the rate of material being deposited and whether the concept of remote mediation results in a successful workflow and embeds into the culture and policy framework of the individual institutions involved.
• The project technical officer will engage with the wider development community to establish appropriate relationships and will build at least two specific tools for improving and embedding repository interfaces. An additional focus will be encouraging Welsh partners to adopt and implement repository tools emerging from the wider community.
• The project will focus on establishing and adopting coherent repository policies across the sector along with ensuring adherence to best practice guidelines in repository implementation.
• The project will build on work already successfully completed in the Repository Bridge demonstrator project by aiming to scale up thesis harvesting into a full service which will harvest theses from the university repositories and ingest them into both the National Library of Wales’ archival system and a public facing open access repository.

Overall Approach

The WRN-EP project will drive forward the development of the existing network of institutional digital repositories in Wales through the provision of a continued and enhanced support network. Focus will be placed on: strategies to encourage deposit and increase materials in the repositories; develop and enhance the interfaces; and establish and embed the policy framework surrounding the repositories. Through the further development of dedicated technical, organisational and operational support measures it is envisaged that the project will maintain the momentum established by the WRN Start-Up project and give a significant boost to the collaborative approach to the delivery of repository services so successfully established in Welsh HEIs.

The project team compromises three people, a project manager and two project officers, who will all be based at Aberystwyth University. The specific work packages are outlined below in the detailed project plan.

The WRN-EP team will liaise with existing contacts in partner institutions and through the formal mechanisms of the established WHELF (Welsh Higher Education Library Forum) network. Specifically, the project will:

• Continue to offer a point of presence for the Welsh HE community with easy and immediate access to authoritative information and advice.
• Build on existing expertise by participating in the wider network of repository experts, encouraging co-ordination of outputs and providing referral services to existing know-how and research outputs.
• Allow partner institutions discretion to develop their distinctive roles whilst at the same time developing a shared identity based on common values, practices and procedures.

The project team are well placed to use their established positions to co-ordinate and act as a focal point for the effective dissemination of the good practice and know-how that has emerged from programmes and projects on a national level. The project team will also use their contacts and standing in the community to inform and enhance the quality of the services and support they provide.

Project Outputs

The following project outputs are envisaged:

• The project will stimulate increased rates of academic participation in Welsh repositories.
• The project will result in a 100% increase in the number of deposits within Welsh repositories.
• The project team will conduct at least 3 site visits per annum with each project partner.
• The project will establish an innovative support web site as well as a blog to maintain community engagement in repository matters between face to face events.
• The project will ensure the continued re-enforcement of the community of repository managers across Wales, brought together through WRN events and meetings.
• The project will provide an annual repository training and information event for the community.
• The project will report on the experimental mediated deposit bureau including details of the cost and resource implications of providing such a service.
• The project will widely share and disseminate repository expertise and experience through the creation of at least 12 learning objects created from the support calls received by the project team.
• The project will improve repository integration and embedding through delivering at least 2 repository technical tools.
• The project will deliver an e-thesis harvesting service across Wales.
• The project will deliver 12 site reports outlining activity at each partner institution.

Project Outcomes

The WRN Enhancement Project will create the following outcomes:

• A stronger repository community within Wales with enhanced levels of engagement by all stakeholders.
• 12 fully embedded, interoperable repositories implementing the full range of best practice guidelines.
• Steady rates of growth in the rates of repository deposits being made across Wales.
• A centrally provided and respected source of expertise and practical assistance on repository matters.
• An embedded concept of a Welsh network of repositories with continued support managed through existing collaborative structures, notably WHELF and its sister organization HEWIT (Higher Education Wales Information Technology Forum).
• An exemplar model for remote mediated deposit.
• Exemplar technical tools and learning objects that have contributed significantly to wider UK repository development.
• Collaborative provision and the shared use of expertise and experience addressing the Welsh Assembly Government agenda of providing value for money and institutional efficiencies.