15 June 2007
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In this issue...
Open Repository Surveys - Tell us what you want from Open Repository
The Open Repository team are currently working on a number of surveys to gauge customer feedback and feeling towards the service. The three surveys cover: service set up and communication, user features, and administration features. The last two focus on both current functionality and possible new features. The results from these surveys will be collated and used to direct future development of the service.
Whether you’ve already trialled Open Repository or are merely interested in the service then perhaps you’d like to comment on some of the proposed new functionality. Please fill out our newsletter survey.
NOW OPEN – The Open Repository Blog
Blogs, everyone’s got one these days. There are an estimated 81 million blogs in existence, with approximately 175 000 being added to the blogosphere each day. Posting to the BioMed Central, Chemistry Central and PhysMath Central blogs began in January 2007 and Open Repository has now joined them on to the BMC blogroll.
So what will the Open Repository blog offer? The new blog will be used to communicate service and development updates and news from the DSpace and the repository communities. Comments can be made informally and all discussion occurs in public forum. The blog will also act as a resource centre for Open Repository customers and those interested in the service, linking to other sources, sites and blogs of interest.
Our other blogs:
BioMed Central
Chemistry Central
PhysMath Central
Feature: Researcher Pages
Researcher pages are a way for institutional authors to present more information about themselves and their interests, and to gather links to their work both within the repository and externally. They are set up by an administrator, edited within the researcher’s ‘My ...’ page and linked to from the author browse list.
Content is added to a researcher page using a ‘quick add’ button from any item view page and ordered using a simple directory structure.
Links to external locations can also be added allowing users to present a ‘virtual CV’ of their work and interests or the page can be hidden from public view.
Conference Attendance
Open Repository will be attending EAHIL, so why not come and say hello? Our representatives will be more than happy to meet with you, so if you would like to book an appointment, please contact us at institutions@biomedcentral.com. We look forward to meeting you!
EAHIL
The EAHIL workshop will be held this year on the 12th – 15th of September 2007, at the Jagiellonian University Medical College in Kraków, Poland. Open Repository will be exhibiting at this event, so please let us know if you are also planning to attend.
For more information please visit: http://www.bm.cm-uj.krakow.pl/eahil/index.php
UKCoRR
The inaugural meeting of the United Kingdom Council Of Research Repositories was held in Nottingham on Monday 21st of May after a series of smaller countrywide feeder sessions. Although evolving from the SHERPA Plus project and under the welcome guidance of Bill Hubbard and Gareth Johnson, UKCoRR (pronounced you-core) is intended to be an independent body representing the interests of UK repository managers. It presents an opportunity for networking, experience sharing, discussion, and information provision as well as acting as a unified organisation to meet with other parties involved in repository development such as technical working groups or publishers.
Discussion in Nottingham focused on key areas of interest to repository managers; such as: adding content, performance indicators, mandates, policies, RAE, good practice, technical support, funding and cultural acceptance. The conversations will hopefully continue on the UKCoRR mailing list as solutions and reference materials are gradually built into a long-term online resource for repository managers. As interest in repositories continues to grow the need for such a group was welcomed by all present. It is also hoped that UKCoRR will be able to act alongside similar groups in the US and Australia to promote repository development. The Open Repository team look forward to being able to contribute their own knowledge and experience to the group.
UKCoRR discussion list
SHERPA Plus page
UKCoRR information page
Open Repository Development News
Those keeping a close eye on DSpace development will know that last year the community “undertook a major review of the DSpace architecture and technology” in order to more explicitly map the progression towards DSpace 2.0. The keywords for this direction can be summarised as interoperability, modularity, scalability and customisability. For Open Repository this means some additional architectural work of our own to ensure that we can take best advantage of these forthcoming changes to DSpace as well as to be able to contribute back to the community, for example enhancing Oracle database support for DSpace.
We have chosen the DSpace 1.4.1 release against which to undertake this work. Not only will this release give us a number of interesting new features such as RSS feeds and configurable browsing but it also sets the base against which future development work will be set. It is a complex and major change to the way in which we run Open Repository but essential. Once we have released the service on our new platform we will be able to take advantage of a host of forthcoming features including extensive customisable interfaces, support for additional metadata formats and graphical interfaces such as timelines or mapped representations of collection content.
Further updates on the next OR release will be detailed on the OR blog.
DSpace architectural review group report
DSpace Federation
New live repositories!
We are delighted to announce that the University of Exeter launched their Open Repository this month! Their repository, The Exeter Research and Institutional Content archive (ERIC), is expanding successfully with more than 100 resources submitted already.
'Many thanks for this - a very slick service (and product!).'
Mr Martin Myhill Acting University Librarian, University of Exeter.
Free Pilot Available!
If you would like to try a free pilot repository, without obligation, please contact one of sales representatives who will be happy to organise this for your institution.
Sales Representatives
If you have any questions please contact one of our sales representatives who will be happy to help you.
Maria Romano
Eastern and Southern United States, Greece, Italy and Eastern Europe
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7631 9971
E-mail: maria@biomedcentral.com
Dominic Tate
Midwestern United States, UK, Ireland, Middle-East and Africa
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7631 9947
E-mail: dominic.tate@biomedcentral.com
Natalia Timiraos
North Western United States, Southern and Central America, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Scandinavia, Iceland and Canada
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7631 9952
E-mail: natalia.t@biomedcentral.com
Paul Stoiber
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands and Asia
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7631 9938
E-mail: paul.s@biomedcentral.com
Renewals
All subscription renewals
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E-mail: renewals@biomedcentral.com
Customer Services
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E-mail: institutions@biomedcentral.com
Science Navigation Group, Middlesex House, 34-42 Cleveland Street, London, W1T 4LB, United Kingdom