Reflections on the RePosit Project

I met with JISC Programme Managers yesterday, ie the JISC staff who steer the projects funded under the JISC Grant Funding Call 2/10: Deposit of research outputs and Exposing digital content for education and research. The meeting was a useful reminder of what the RePosit project is all about, and how important it is to remember how other Unis may benefit from our project……….

• The RePosit project is innovative – there aren’t many people out there who are thinking about how a research management system (or RMS) can be used as the mechanism for depositing research outputs in the institutional repository, and thus embedding deposit in the research lifecycle. Many institutions are considering adoption of a RMS, some will also consider ‘integration’ with an institutional repository, some won’t – RePosit findings will be able to inform that decision.
• The RePosit project is well placed to consider the impact of RMSs because of the diversity of the project partners – different repositories, different stages of adoption of a RMS/repository, and different levels of experience in repository advocacy. RePosit project outputs will be focussed to support those that are moving from repository advocacy to RMS/repository advocacy AND those that are starting repository advocacy with RMS as the primary interface.

Also, saw some interesting stuff on Lorcan Dempsey’s blog last week – with links to other relevant stuff http://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/002134.html . It reminded me of a Chris Rusbridge blog some time ago http://digitalcuration.blogspot.com/2008/08/repositories-and-cris.html . Both get a bit technical – but underlying both blogs is the idea that a RIS can improve deposits by ensuring that information about a publication is only entered (or harvested) once – ie by simplifying the process for an academic. Which reminded me – at our project meeting earlier this week – we compiled a list of key advocacy messages – for repositories, for a RMS/repository model, and for the RMS itself …..... We had ‘do it once’ on our list of course – but we need to add RMS harvesting functionality to our list. Watch out for more on this in January – when our first project outputs should be ready…….

Bo Middleton
RePosit Project Director
Head of e-Strategy, University of Leeds Library