JISC

The development of a national infrastructure that can provide a layer of scholarly resources across the network, free at the point of use to further and higher education institutions, is one of JISC’s key aims. The last year has seen further progress in reaching this goal.

A key element of the creation of such a layer of content is the support for the establishment and development of institutional repositories, and since 2007 the Repositories Support Project (RSP) has been providing guidance to institutions in setting up and developing their own open access repositories. The guidance is based on a consortium of experts led by the SHERPA team at Nottingham University. For the first time there has been a national focus for practice in this area, resulting in significant growth in activity and sharing of good practice.

The UK is now one of the world leaders in the development of open access repositories, both in terms of the number of repositories and the volume of content, as well as having in place the necessary supporting policies and infrastructure.

Examples of projects which are contributing significantly to making scholarly materials readily available for all in higher and further education include:

Start–up and Enhancement Repository Project

Work has continued to establish and populate repositories across learning, research and administration. 44 projects have created 77 repositories, across different content types, such as data, papers and learning materials. See more information

Simple Web Service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD)

Significant progress was also made in creating a standard protocol for how information is deposited into repositories by the SWORD project, funded by JISC and managed by UKOLN. The project created a ‘smart deposit’ tool to make it easier to populate repositories, generating interest from around the world, with repository software vendors working to embed it in their systems and Microsoft Research using it in their conference management and ejournal systems. The latter is also developing the ability to save documents from Microsoft Word directly into a repository. Work in this area will continue to integrate SWORD with other repository interfaces and protocols.

Social Network Extensions for Eprints (SNEEP)

EPrints is a flexible platform for building high quality, high value repositories for scholarly materials, and JISC has supported the creation and development of Eprints software for several years. SNEEP is an example of a six-month rapid innovation project which completed in February 2008. It showed how Web 2.0 functionality such as sharing bookmarks, adding comments and tags to photographs and blog posts, could be used in institutional repository software.

Podcast with JISC programme manager Andy McGregor on JISC’s repositories activities
Promoting open access (Duration: 10:17)

Podcast with SPARC Europe’s director David Prosser about open access
The open access argument is won (Duration: 11:43)

During the last year SHERPA’s OpenDOAR directory, which contains an authoritative list of institutional and subject-based repositories, reached 1000 repository entries from across the globe. With each of the repositories listed by the OpenDOAR service having been visited by project staff, the gathered information is both accurate and precise, and contains a quality-controlled list of repository features.

Jorum, the service jointly run by the data centres EDINA and MIMAS, this year started work on moving to an open access licensing model. JorumOpen will allow academics to share their learning materials with each other on the web, using creative commons licences.

EThOS, the network of open access electronic theses and dissertations, launched its interactive toolkit in June 2008 to encourage higher education institutions to become familiar with how to archive paper theses, and advise on how to upload electronic dissertations into the system. The education and research community will be able to access 12,000 electronic theses when EThOS goes live in January 2009.

Podcast on EThOS Theses go digital
(Duration: 6:50)

Two geospatial infrastructure developments are one step closer to full service delivery. These are Geo-Crosswalk and GoGeo! It is planned that they will be launched as services at the end of 2008. The Geo-Cross Walk Gazetteer provides researchers and teaching staff with access to an online list of place names and geographical locations for reference and cataloguing purposes, also acting as a middleware server for other information services using geographic searching, while Go Geo! is a portal that provides access to a wide range of geospatial resources.

Podcast with Robin Smith, analyst at the University of Sheffield and a regular user of Go-Geo! Going geographical with Go-Geo!  (Duration: 10:13)

Article Go-Geo! (Inform 19)

January saw the publication of the Google Generation report produced in partnership with the British Library. The report showed that, while many young people show an ease and familiarity with computers, they rely on the most basic search tools, and lack the critical and analytical skills to evaluate the information they find.

The report proposed that well-funded information literacy programmes were needed if the UK is to remain a leading knowledge economy with a strongly-skilled next generation of researchers. The report attracted considerable publicity on its publication and, in partnership with the British Library, JISC will follow up the report with further longitudinal studies to explore how the habits and methods of researchers are continuing to evolve.

Podcast on the launch of the Google Generation report Google Generation – myth or reality?
(Duration: 22:04) 

An interview with Lynne Brindley (CEO of the British Library) 
(Duration: 11:12) Download the video

Guardian article on the report Information alert

With the recognition of potential benefits in sharing and re-using research data the costs of data curation have become a key concern. In May a report was published, called Keeping Research Data Safe which explored the medium to long term costs to higher education institutions (HEIs) of the preservation of research data. The provided an essential methodological foundation for establishing research data costs for the HEFCE-sponsored feasibility study for a UK Research Data Service. It also assists HEIs and funding bodies who wish to establish strategies and costings for long-term data management and archiving.

In March 2008 JISC and SCONUL (Society of College, National and University Libraries) published a report on the current library systems landscape in UK higher education. The report lead to a workshop in June 2008 which brought together librarians and library management systems vendors to discuss the issues surrounding sustainability, collaborative working and how to shape the future of library management systems. The principal recommendations from the horizon scan were to maximise value, increase interoperability, and consider working in partnership. The report (PDF) was seen as an important starting point for joint work between librarians and systems vendors as a result of which JISC and SCONUL will continue to work together to address these issues.

Briefing Paper published to support institutional work in this area

The focus for the Users and Innovation programme has been the innovative use of web 2.0 technologies in higher education. During the last year the programme moved into its central project-development phase, following an extensive and vibrant community-building exercise led by the support project Emerge. 22 projects at a wide range of institutions both singly and in collaboration are developing web 2.0 solutions in the educational use of audio, multi-user virtual environments, e-CPD (Continuous Professional Development) and technologies for administrative purposes.

Podcast about the programme What is Web 2.0 and how is it impacting on education?
(Duration: 9:57)

Two major support projects underline these developments. The Web2Rights project has developed an online diagnostic tool and animation to advise projects on issues concerning Intellectual Property Rights, while the programme has supported the development, with Netskills and JISC InfoNet, of an Infokit on Scenario Planning as a tool for project management.

The programme, which runs until March 2009, held a successful annual programme conference in April at which a number of innovative developments were showcased. The programme is high profile, with frequent mentions in the educational press, and continues to informally monitor trends and attitudes across higher education with regard to Web 2.0, as evidenced at the JISC Innovation Forum in July.

Podcast The importance of innovation to the future of higher education 
Sarah Porter, Head of Innovation Group, JISC (Duration: 12:41)

Podcast JISC and the higher education sector: challenges and opportunities
John Selby, Director of Education and Widening Participation, HEFCE (Duration: 16:57)  

A number of activities under the Information Environment were prominent in the start of JISC’s ‘Libraries of the Future’ campaign, which highlighted the achievements of UK academic libraries and looked forward to the future. Among subjects covered in a special Guardian supplement in April were: research data, repositories and resource discovery.