LCoNZ Institutional Research Repository Project

1
LCoNZInstitutional Research Repository Project

• Overview
• LCoNZ
• IRR Project
• Project goals
• Project outcomes
• Issues

2
LCoNZ background information

• Four shareholder members
• University of Otago, Dunedin
• Victoria University of Wellington
• University of Waikato, Hamilton
• Auckland University of Technology
• IRAMS (Information and Resource Access Management
  Systems)
• Integrated Library Management System (Voyager)
• Suite of software required to access and manage
  licensed electronic resources, provide federated
  searching and deep linking at the digital content
  level (Serials Solutions products)
• Support for the storage, management and access to
  locally created digital objects (IRR Project)
• Commitment to common software in a shared hosted
  environment

3
IRR Project background information

• CONZUL endorsement of open access to research and
  scholarly literature in 2004
• Requirement by research funding bodies that
  publicly funded research be made available on
  open access
• Need to expand local knowledge and expertise in
  the development of Institutional Repositories
  (IR)
• Key experts had suggested that IR were becoming a
  must but an unnecessarily expensive must if
  done by every university.
• Possible economies of scale in development of
  multi-institutional repositories
• LCoNZ infrastructure already in place for the
  development of a multi-institutional repository

4
IRR Project Goals

• Use the collaborative infrastructure of LCoNZ to
  investigate the management of New Zealand digital
  collections
• Evaluate different repository solutions to extend
  members experience of both proprietary and open
  source software applications
• Propose cost-effective options for an
  externally-hosted multi-institutional repository
• Grow the capability within LCoNZ that will lead
  to sustainable, continuous access to NZ digital
  collections for learning and research
• Initially be confined to repositories for
  research outputs with the expectation that a
  single preferred solution would be recommended

5
IRR Project Timeline

• Phase 1 (Sept Nov 2006)
• Agree on criteria for the evaluation of selected
  repository solutions
• Evaluate different repository solutions, both
  open source and proprietary
• Make recommendations on the most suitable option
  for the development of a sustainable,
  multi-institutional repository
• Phase 2 (Dec 06 Mar 07)
• Investigate hosting options, both in-house and
  commercial
• Compare costs, advantages and disadvantages of
  each option
• Recommend a preferred option
• Phase 3 (in progress)
• Implementation

6
IRR Project Outcomes

• Phase 1 (Sept Nov 2006)
• Project teams established
• Research and fact-finding
• Agreement on functional requirements
• Identified IR applications for evaluation
• Functionality testing
• Usability testing
• Collation of results and final report
• Recommendations
• DSpace recommended as the most feasible option
  for the majority of members
• Proceed to Phase 2 investigate hosting options
  for a multi-institutional repository using DSpace

7
IRR Project Outcomes

• Phase 2 (Dec 06 Mar 07)
• Estimated storage capacity requirements for IRs
• Identified 4 possible hosting options
• - individual in-house (individual IRs hosted
  locally)
• - individual commercial (one or more IRs hosted
  commercially)
• - shared in-house (all four IRs hosted by one
  institution)
• - shared commercial (all four IRs hosted
  commercially)
• Discussed advantages, disadvantages and estimated
  costs with IT Directors
• Recommendations
• Scope IRs hosted in a shared environment at
  Waikato University
• Proceed to Phase 3 Implementation

8
IRR Project Outcomes

• Phase 3 (Apr Jun 07)
• LCoNZ Board committed to funding a
  multi-institutional repository in a shared hosted
  environment
• LCoNZ members are not compelled to use the shared
  repository and all four members may not be in a
  position to immediately use a shared repository
• Engage a business analyst to define repository
  requirements of each member institution and
  identify requirements that are common to all
• Formalise Hosting Agreement
• Prepare a Service Level Agreement

9
IRR Project the final steps

• Phase 3 (Jul Oct 07)
• Purchase, install and test hardware
• Recruit programmer to configure DSpace
• Finalise design specifications including branding
• Review policies and workflow documentation
• Prepare plan for bulk loading of existing content
• Test workflows for deposit of new content
• Load content and test
• Develop and implement communication plan
• Go Live and Celebrate!

10
Issues of Governance

• More complex than going solo
• Need to allow for institutional differences
• Develop a new business model for sharing costs
• Ensure benefits of collaboration are realised
• Watch this space www.lconz.ac.nz

11
Thank You

• Larraine Shepherd
• Associate University Librarian
• (Digital Information Services)
• Auckland University of Technology