“Citing and Reading Behaviours in High-Energy Physics. How a Community Stopped Worrying about Journals and Learned to Love Repositories”

Anne Gentil-Beccot, Salvatore Mele, and Travis Brooks have self-archived "Citing and Reading Behaviours in High-Energy Physics. How a Community Stopped Worrying about Journals and Learned to Love Repositories" in arXiv.org.

Here's an excerpt:

Contemporary scholarly discourse follows many alternative routes in addition to the three-century old tradition of publication in peer-reviewed journals. The field of High- Energy Physics (HEP) has explored alternative communication strategies for decades, initially via the mass mailing of paper copies of preliminary manuscripts, then via the inception of the first online repositories and digital libraries.

This field is uniquely placed to answer recurrent questions raised by the current trends in scholarly communication: is there an advantage for scientists to make their work available through repositories, often in preliminary form? Is there an advantage to publishing in Open Access journals? Do scientists still read journals or do they use digital repositories?

The analysis of citation data demonstrates that free and immediate online dissemination of preprints creates an immense citation advantage in HEP, whereas publication in Open Access journals presents no discernible advantage. In addition, the analysis of clickstreams in the leading digital library of the field shows that HEP scientists seldom read journals, preferring preprints instead.

“Beyond Institutional Repositories”

Laurent Romary and Chris Armbruster have self-archived "Beyond Institutional Repositories" in SSRN.

Here's an excerpt:

The current system of so-called institutional repositories, even if it has been a sensible response at an earlier stage, may not answer the needs of the scholarly community, scientific communication and accompanied stakeholders in a sustainable way. However, having a robust repository infrastructure is essential to academic work. Yet, current institutional solutions, even when networked in a country or across Europe, have largely failed to deliver. Consequently, a new path for a more robust infrastructure and larger repositories is explored to create superior services that support the academy. A future organization of publication repositories is advocated that is based upon macroscopic academic settings providing a critical mass of interest as well as organizational coherence. Such a macro-unit may be geographical (a coherent national scheme), institutional (a large research organization or a consortium thereof) or thematic (a specific research field organizing itself in the domain of publication repositories).

The argument proceeds as follows: firstly, while institutional open access mandates have brought some content into open access, the important mandates are those of the funders and these are best supported by a single infrastructure and large repositories, which incidentally enhances the value of the collection (while a transfer to institutional repositories would diminish the value). Secondly, we compare and contrast a system based on central research publication repositories with the notion of a network of institutional repositories to illustrate that across central dimensions of any repository solution the institutional model is more cumbersome and less likely to achieve a high level of service. Next, three key functions of publication repositories are reconsidered, namely a) the fast and wide dissemination of results; b) the preservation of the record; and c) digital curation for dissemination and preservation. Fourth, repositories and their ecologies are explored with the overriding aim of enhancing content and enhancing usage. Fifth, a target scheme is sketched, including some examples. In closing, a look at the evolutionary road ahead is offered.

Fedora Repository 3.2.1 Released

The Fedora Commons has released version 3.2.1 of Fedora Repository.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

The current release of Fedora Repository is 3.2.1 is a minor upgrade that addresses a security issue discovered in Fedora 3.2. . . .

Included within is the long-awaited, web-based administrative client, initial integration with the emerging Akubra storage-abstraction layer, many useful bug fixes, and the experimental release of a Fedora decoupled from the familiar 'fedora' context path.

Interoperable Repositories Infrastructure Project

Alma Swan has announced that, as a result of a DRIVER/JISC/SURF March workshop, plans for improving interoperability between repositories are being developed by the Interoperable Repositories Infrastructure Project in four areas: citation services, interoperable identification systems, repository handshaking (interoperable deposit systems), and repository organization (supporting repositories around the world).

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Since the workshop, teams have taken the discussions forward and are developing action plans and project proposals for each topic. Here is an update:

  1. The CITATION SERVICES team now have a draft project proposal available for community review. Please take a look at it give your comments. It is on the project wiki here: http://repinf.pbworks.com/Citation-Services-draft-project-proposal
  2. The wiki also provides an update on all four plans: the team leaders made short presentations on developments at the OAI6 conference last week and their Powerpoint files are on the wiki, along with an Update document summarising the progress and future timelines. Here are the links: Update: http://repinf.pbworks.com/Update-June-09 Powerpoints: links from the front page: http://repinf.pbworks.com/
  3. Finally, the wiki provides extensive background information on repositories in the form of Briefing Materials under a number of headings. These are presented in both text and map form on the wiki, accessible from the links on the wiki front page here: http://repinf.pbworks.com/.

SWORD PHP Library Version 0.7

Stuart Lewis has released the SWORD PHP Library Version 0.7.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

This latest version adds two new features:

  • When performing a deposit, the client now sets the 'Content-Disposition:filename' header so that the SWORD server knows what to name the file. . . .
  • When performing a deposit, the optional X-No-Op (pretend to perform the deposit) and X-Verbose (provide a verbose response) headers can now be sent (as per http://www.swordapp.org/docs/sword-profile-1.3.html#b.9.2)

Leslie Carr Identifies “Hard Working” UK and U.S. Digital Repositories

Leslie Carr has identified the top 10 "hard working" UK and U.S. digital repositories based on "the number of days deposit activity that they achieved in the last year according to ROAR."

The number one U.S. repository was the RIT Digital Media Library and the number one UK repository was the University of Kent.

Read more about it at "Hard Working Repositories" and "Hardworking Repositories: Comparing UK & US."

Texas Conference on Digital Libraries 2009 Presentations

Presentations from the Texas Conference on Digital Libraries 2009 are now available.

Here's those by Texas Digital Library staff:

“AAHSL Institutional Repositories (IR) Survey Summary and Analysis: 2008 Survey, 2005-2008 Comparison”

Tom Singarella and Paul Schoening have self-archived "AAHSL Institutional Repositories (IR) Survey Summary and Analysis: 2008 Survey, 2005-2008 Comparison" in Archie—Digital Collections @KUMC.

Here's an excerpt:

This survey has tracked IR development for the past 4 years, and there have not been as many changes as one might have anticipated from 2005. Certainly, the number of health science libraries promoting and/or maintaining institutional repositories continues to slowly increase, but the development has been slow, except in the case of large university-wide efforts or in conjunction with main university libraries. Although the IR effort is increasing, development has not proceeded as quickly as some respondents previously indicated. Based on individual comments, it appears that additional resources are needed to adequately support a health science library in developing an IR, and most often the impetus is to protect the archives of the institution, followed closely by faculty publications and research information. The most successful efforts (as determined by number of objects populating the IR) continue to appear to be via the main campus library and statewide higher education efforts. As more and more health sciences libraries internalize information technology practices, we may see more development and a changing face in the IR in the health sciences world. However, more often than not the academic health science library IR development is part of a larger university or collaborative library effort.

Presentations from EThOS Web Services Workshop

Presentations from the EThOS Web Services Workshop are now available.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

Aim of the day: To identify how Web Services are and can be used to enable interoperability between repositories, repository services and other systems. The workshop aims to provide information on and a chance to discuss the role Web Services can play in supporting the ongoing implementation of repositories.

EPrints + Web 2.0: SNEEP 0.3.2 Released

SNEEP 0.3.2 has been released. (See the project page for more information on the Social Networking Extensions for EPrints.)

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

SNEEP is a set of EPrints plugins that provide "Web 2.0-ish" features such as the ability for users to annotate eprint abstracts with shared Comments or personal Notes, and to categorise them with Tags.

SNEEP 0.3.2 adds out-of-the-box support for version 3.1.2.1 of EPrints, but the main change is that, for the first time, SNEEP is now distributed with an automagic install script. Where previous releases required a rather lengthy manual process, in the majority of cases installation should now be quick and painless.

Japanese Institutional Repositories: IRDB Contents Analysis System Enhanced

The NII Institutional Repositories DataBase Contents Analysis has been enhanced with new features.

Here's an excerpt from the announcement:

We have made the following improvements:

  1. The default in "Content growth" has been changed to "Full text". . .
  2. "Breakdown of content by resource type (ratio)" has been added. . .
  3. The details of data have been hidden. . .
  4. The analysis of content has been added. . .

Blog Reports from Open Repositories 2009

Below are some blog reports from the Open Repositories 2009 conference.

Mark Leggott

H.J. (Driek) Heesakkers

Peter Sefton

DISC-UK DataShare Project: Final Report

JISC has released DISC-UK DataShare Project: Final Report.

Here's an excerpt:

The DISC-UK DataShare Project was funded from March 2007-March 2009 as part of JISC's Repositories and Preservation programme, Repositories Enhancement strand. It was led by EDINA and Edinburgh University Data Library in partnership with the University of Oxford and the University of Southampton. The project built on the existing informal collaboration of UK data librarians and data managers who formed DISC-UK (Data Information Specialists Committee–UK).

This project has brought together the distinct communities of data support staff in universities and institutional repository managers in order to bridge gaps and exploit the expertise of both to advance the current provision of repository services for accommodating datasets, and thus to explore new pathways to assist academics at our institutions who wish to share their data over the Internet. The project's overall aim was to contribute to new models, workflows and tools for academic data sharing within a complex and dynamic information environment which includes increased emphasis on stewardship of institutional knowledge assets of all types; new technologies to enhance e- Research; new research council policies and mandates; and the growth of the Open Access / Open Data movement.

With three institutions taking part plus the London School of Economics as an associate partner, a range of exemplars have emerged from the establishment of institutional data repositories and related services. Part of the variety in the exemplars is a result of the different repository platforms used by the three project partners: DSpace (Edinburgh DataShare), ePrints (e-Prints Soton) and Fedora (Oxford University Research Archive, ORA)–all open source software. LSE took another route and is using the distributed Dataverse repository network for data, linking to publications in LSE Research Online. Also, different approaches were taken in setting up the repositories. All three institutions had an existing, well-used institutional repository, but two chose to incorporate datasets within the same system as the publications, and one (Edinburgh DataShare) was a paired repository exclusively for datasets, designed to interoperate with the publications repository (Edinburgh Research Archive). The approach took a major turn midway through the project when an apparent solution to the problem of lack of voluntary deposits arose, in the form of the advent of the Data Audit Framework. Edinburgh participated as a partner in the DAF Development project which created the methodology for the framework, and also won a bid to carry out its own DAF Implementation project. Later, the other two partners conducted their own versions of the data audit framework under the auspices of the DataShare project.

A number of scoping activities were carried about by the partners with the goal of informing repository enhancement as well as broader dissemination. These included a State-of-the-Art-Review to determine what had been learned by previous repository projects in the UK that had forayed into the data arena. This resulted in a list of benefits and barriers to deposit of datasets by researchers to inform our outreach activities. A Data Sharing Continuum diagram was developed to illustrate where the projects were aiming to fit into the curation landscape, and the range of curation steps that could be taken, from simple backup to online visualization. Later on, a specialized metadata schema was explored (Data Documentation Initiative or DDI) in terms of how it might be incorporated into repository systems, though repository development in this area was not taken up. Instead, a dataset application profile was developed based on qualified Dublin Core (dcterms). This was implemented in the Edinburgh DataShare repository and adapted by Southampton for their next release. The project wished to explore wider issues with open data and web publishing, and therefore produced two briefing papers to do with data mashups–on numeric data and geospatial data. Finally, the project staff and consultant distilled what it had learned in terms of policy development for data repositories in a training guide. A number of peer reviewed posters, papers, and articles were written by DISC-UK members about various aspects of the project during the period.

Key conclusions were that 1) Data management motivation is a better bottom-up driver for researchers than data sharing but is not sufficient to create culture change, 2) Data librarians, data managers and data scientists can help bridge communication between repository managers & researchers, and 3) IRs can improve impact of sharing data over the internet.

Welsh Repository Network Final Report

JISC has released the Welsh Repository Network Final Report.

Here's an excerpt:

The aim of the Welsh Repository Network (WRN) was to put in place an essential building block for the development of an integrated network of institutional digital repositories in Wales. The project entailed a centrally managed hardware procurement programme designed to provide every HEI in Wales with dedicated and configured repository hardware. In close collaboration with the technical, organisational and operational support specifically provided for Welsh Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) within the JISC funded Repositories Support Project (RSP), also delivered from Aberystwyth University, this initiative provided a cost-effective, collaborative and decisive boost to the repository agenda in Wales and helped JISC achieve the critical mass of populated repositories and digital content that is a stated objective of the Repositories and Preservation Programme.

The project employed a three-stage approach: requirements gathering, procurement and installation, and monitoring and evaluation. Extensive site visits and regular communication with project partners were a fundamental aspect of project activity and a variety of models were used for procuring hardware including collaborative approaches, outsourcing to commercial software and establishing hosting agreements.

At its most practical level the principal deliverable of the WRN project has been the provision of repository hardware capacity in each and every HEI in Wales which, in combination with the hands-on technical support provided by the RSP, enabled all 12 HEIs to have functional institutional repositories by March 2009. More generally, the project has contributed a series of case studies and test sites that provide the wider JISC community with practical insights into the process of matching alternative organisational models, repository types and hardware configurations to different geographical and institutional settings. The main conclusion to be drawn from the WRN is that while providing funds for procuring hardware helps to push repository development up the institutional agenda, the support that goes with the funding, especially the technical support, is a far more crucial factor in generating a successful and lasting outcome.

Read more about it at the "project Web site."

“Achieving the Full Potential of Repository Deposit Policies”

Karla Hahn has published "Achieving the Full Potential of Repository Deposit Policies" in the latest issue of Research Library Issues.

Here's an excerpt:

Editor's note: A small group of individuals with expertise on author-rights policies, the campus policy environment, National Institutes of Health (NIH) deposit processes, and digital repository services met in Washington DC on January 9, 2009, under the auspices of ARL's Public Policy and Scholarly Communication programs. The group explored opportunities, desired outcomes, and policy issues involved in developing capabilities for institutionally mediated deposit processes and content transfer between institution-based and funder-based repositories, particularly PubMed Central. Based on that discussion, the group also identified potential strategies that would lead toward creating the needed rights-management environment and repository services. This essay reflects the January 9 discussions.

Also of interest in this issue are: "Author-Rights Language in Library Content Licenses," "Digital Scholarly Communication: A Snapshot of Current Trends," and "Strategies for Supporting New Genres of Scholarship."

Implementing an Institutional Repository for Leeds Metropolitan University

Wendy Luker and Nick Sheppard have released Implementing an Institutional Repository for Leeds Metropolitan University: Final Report. The repository project was funded by JISC.

Here's an excerpt:

We are able to conclude from this project that Intrallect's intraLibrary software is extensible to a wide range of content and, in particular, adaptable to serve as an effective Open Access research repository. However, to achieve this has been a steep learning curve and the system still requires some development to be fully effective for this specific purpose. The main areas for further development are:

  • Continued development and refinement of the SRU search interface
  • Continued development work to ensure OA content is discoverable on the public web; by implementing XML site-maps and, ideally, working with Intrallect to facilitate full text indexing
  • Continued development work on self-archiving and/or mediated work flows—possibly utilising SWORD technology

We can also conclude that there are real issues in engaging with the academic community to promote the model of Open Access to research in its current form, at least in the short term. Procurement of full text content has followed the pattern exhibited elsewhere in the sector. A number of full text articles are available within the Repository. However, to date the bulk of contributions have been in citation format. The University Research Office is very supportive of the project, and are convinced of the potential of the Repository to raise the profile of research at the University. It is hope that this commitment, combined with the already high profile of the Repository, will lead to higher levels of full text deposit.

Mention-It Takes Open Repositories 2009 Developer Challenge Award

The Mention-It JavaScript library has won the Open Repositories 2009 Developer Challenge award. The application aggregates "'mentions' of content held within an institutional repository (or personal blog/webpage) from across the web."

Read more about it at "'Mention-It' App Takes Developer Challenge Prize at OR09."