Collaboration Nation: the building of the Welsh Repository Network
Jacqueline Knowles
Authors: Jacqueline Knowles, Project Manager, Welsh Repository Network, Aberystwyth
University, Wales. E-mail: jak.aber.ac.uk
ABSTRACT
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to disseminate information about the Welsh Repository Network
(WRN), innovative work being undertaken to build an integrated network of institutional digital
repositories. A collaborative approach, in particular through the provision of centralised technical
and organisational support, has demonstrated improvement in the use and curation of digital
repository content across the province.
Design/methodology/approach
The vision of the WRN has been delivered using two project phases; the first establishing technical
infrastructure followed by a phase focussing on user engagement, content generation and
enhancement of repository interfaces. The methodologies used have involved gathering technical
requirements and procurement and installation of repository solutions, including a cash injection of
£4K per institution to purchase suitable hardware. The current phase explores experimental
approaches to stimulate engagement, embed solutions and generate content to populate the
repositories. Collaboration is the overarching theme driving the approach.
Findings
The WRN is now a physical entity offering complete national coverage. Vitally, the WRN is also
functioning as a virtual network. The variety of technical repository solutions implemented reflect
the variety of institutions with makeup, current computing infrastructure and staffing levels all
influencing the chosen infrastructure. Current challenges focus on organisational aspects of
engagement; culture change, strategic buy-in and policy issues have all proved significant.
Originality/value
The WRN demonstrates that collaboration results in success. The model can inform and lead others
considering repository matters and has provided findings of interest and value to many wider
communities from repository specific, through information and research management to the
information profession as whole.
1. Introduction
The Welsh Higher Education Libraries Forum (WHELF) prides itself on a strong and successful history
of collaboration (http://whelf.ac.uk/background.shtml). WHELF has long promoted a holistic vision
of library and information provision in Wales and via its active promotion of the work of higher
education libraries within Wales it provides a focus for the development of new ideas and services
and has a mission to promote co-operation, to encourage the exchange of ideas, to provide a forum
for mutual support and to help facilitate new initiatives in library and information service provision.
The current range of WHELF initiatives reflects this mission. Collaboration in information provision is
1
addressed through joint purchase and procurement schemes for e-content, co-operative library
access schemes and a portfolio of digitisation projects to make materials of Welsh interest more
widely available. The support agenda is facilitated through both the exchange of ideas, such as
current investigations into a cross-sectoral information literacy framework for Wales, and through
providing opportunities for continuing professional development. The highlight of the WHELF
Current Professional Development (CPD) programme is an annual residential colloquium held at
Gregynog Hall, the University of Wales conference centre, for library and IT staff to discuss recent
developments and to exchange experiences.
In recent years a key WHELF initiative has been the development of the Welsh Repository Network
(WRN) a project facilitating the development of an integrated network of institutional digital
repositories in Wales (http://www.wrn.aber.ac.uk/). Figure 1 shows the location of the Higher
Education Institutions (HEIs) and their institutional repositories that make up the WRN.
Take in Figure 1
Figure 1 – Map and location of the Welsh repositories
1
2
3
4
5
6 7
8
13
9 11
10
12
1 Bangor University
http://dspace.bangor.ac.uk/dspace/
2 Glyndŵr University : GURO
http://epubs.glyndwr.ac.uk/
3 Aberystwyth University : Cadair
http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/
4 University of Wales Lampeter : Eisteddfa
http://eisteddfa.lamp.ac.uk/
5 Trinity University College
http://dspace.trinity-cm.ac.uk/dspace/
6 Swansea University : Cronfa
https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/dspace/
7 Swansea Metropolitan University
http://dspace.smu.ac.uk/dspace/
8 University of Glamorgan
http://dspace1.isd.glam.ac.uk/dspace/
9 Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
http://dspace2.isd.glam.ac.uk/dspace/
10 University of Wales Institute Cardiff
http://repository.uwic.ac.uk/dspace/
11 Cardiff University : ORCA
http://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/
12 University of Wales Newport
http://repository.newport.ac.uk/
13 University of Wales
Coming soon!
WHELF has contributed community knowledge, a ready-made collaboration infrastructure for the
project and the prospect of long-term sustainability. Most importantly its backing for this high
2
profile work has created a flagship activity demonstrating to a wide audience the value and
effectiveness of the strong co-operative environment within Wales.
2. Repositories and Preservation Programme of the Joint Information Systems Committee in the
UK
The first phase of the WRN project was funded under the umbrella of the UK’s Joint information
Systems Committee (JISC) Repositories and Preservation Programme
(http://www.jisc.ac.uk/programme_rep_pres.aspx ). This programme was a high profile and
substantive investment (£14m) in Higher Education (HE) repository and digital content infrastructure
with the vision of establishing a network of digital resources and services to significantly improve
content use and curation.
In 2006 JISC had commissioned a study to map out the future for repositories and the resulting
Digital Repositories Roadmap envisaged an environment in 2010 where:
“… a high percentage of newly published UK scholarly output is made available on an open access
basis and in which there is a growing recognition of the benefits of making research data, learning
resources and other academic content freely available for sharing and re-use.” (Heery and Powell,
2006)
At this point in time many HE institutions were becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of
establishing a digital repository. In 2005 a high level JISC Repositories Briefing Paper had been sent
to every HE institution within the UK outlining how a repository could help institutions to develop
coherent and co-ordinated approaches to the capture, identification, storage, preservation and
retrieval of their intellectual assets (JISC, 2005). There was an emerging focus on value for money
within the sector and an increased awareness of the need to provide accountability for public
spending. In parallel, funding organisations were starting to introduce mandates (as listed on the
SHERPA Juliet service (http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/juliet/) and adapting their grant conditions in order
to maximise the dissemination of the research they fund by requiring peer-reviewed research
outputs to be made freely available to the public, in full, at the earliest possible date. These factors,
alongside the debate about the changing nature of scholarly communication and the growing
momentum of the Open Access movement (following pioneering work at Southampton University
(Simpson and Hey, 2006)) provided the ideal context and timing for JISC to make a significant
injection of funding.
Key strands to the JISC Repositories and Preservation Programme included:

taking forward the development of a distributed environment for digital preservation;

developing a service for searching across UK repositories;

innovative approaches to repository use;

digital preservation through the development of new software and tools;

support of both national and international shared infrastructure services.
Much of this was delivered through a portfolio of projects, one of which was the WRN.
3
3. WRN 2007-2009
3.1 The creation of the Welsh Repository Network
The WRN began life in 2007 and at the outset it was agreed that the WRN would be characterised by
the following principal components:
a) An operational open access digital repository in every Welsh HEI that forms an
integral part of the learning, teaching, research and administrative fabric of its
host institution.
b) A supporting infrastructure based upon open standards and common
implementations, compatible with the JISC Information Environment, facilitating
interoperability and a coordinated approach to resource discovery, harvesting
and curation of intellectual assets in Wales.
c) A bilingual interface which is fully compliant with the requirements of the Welsh
Language Act of 1993
(http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts1993/ukpga_19930038_en_1).
d) Centrally provided technical and organisational support designed to assist
institutions first to construct and then to populate and embed institutional
repositories into the institutional fabric.
e) A national resource discovery and search service which provides integrated
access to aggregated data of Welsh interest and which also makes provision for
long-term preservation and archiving.
Led by a team of repository experts based at Aberystwyth University the first phase of the WRN
project concentrated on establishing the technical infrastructure for a network of interoperable
repositories across Wales. Efforts culminated in February 2009 with an official launch of the WRN
and the announcement that Wales had become the first country within UK to have complete
national repository coverage (http://www.rsp.ac.uk/news/news2009-0223WelshRepositoryNetworklaunch.php ). The network built by the project team was realised as both
a physical entity, with the creation of 12 functioning institutional repositories, but also emerged as a
virtual network of colleagues operating across the sector engaged in the use and promotion of their
institutional repositories.
The project employed a three-stage approach:

Requirements gathering. This was achieved using the following:
o
o
Surveys and structured interview pro formas were used to define institution profile
and related requirements.
Site visits were conducted to liaise with local staff to ensure hardware specifications
suit local needs and existing infrastructure.
4

Procurement and installation. Suitable hardware as detailed by the requirements was
procured and possible collaborations between institutions were explored. Installation and
integration issues were supported by guidance and assistance offered by the project team.
Performance and suitability of hardware chosen was monitored for the duration of the
project.

Monitoring and evaluation. The performance of each repository was monitored and
evaluated and checks were made to ensure the repositories are being run effectively.
Figure 2 provides a time chart of key activities during the first phase of the WRN project.
Take in Figure 2
Figure 2. Time chart of key activities during the first phase of the WRN Project
Feb/Mar
Dec/Jan
Oct/Nov
Aug/Sep
Jun/Jul
Apr/May
Project Year 2 – 2008/2009
Feb/Mar
Dec/Jan
Oct/Nov
Aug/Sep
Jun/Jul
Apr/May
Project Year 1 – 2007/2008
INITIAL SITE VISITS
TECHNICAL SURVEY
SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS
PROCUREMENT
INSTALLATION VISITS
MONITORING/EVALUATION
LAUNCH EVENT
5
At an institutional level senior officers expressed their strategic commitment to the development of
the WRN and a desire to embed repositories within the institutional framework. At an equally vital
operational level, Chief Librarians and Directors of Information Services of Welsh HEIs signalled their
commitment by making repository development one of the key priorities for the WHELF Action Plan.
As part of this, each institution was expected to allocate IT and other staff time to the project. This
was estimated as a total of one FTE month per institution over the duration of the project, with a
significant proportion of staff time being invested in the first nine months, particularly in respect of
the specification, procurement, configuration and installation of hardware and its assimilation into
institutional IT and networking infrastructures. In addition, an initial set-up cost of £1,200 per annum
per institution was allocated to cover such essential services as hardware maintenance, back-up,
updates, security, networking, anti-virus measures, etc and a follow-up cost of £600 per institution
for second year maintenance and other essential running costs.
3.2 Building capacity: putting the technology in place
At the outset of the project the Welsh institutions had varying levels of engagement with the
concept of a repository. Two of the larger universities had publicly available pilot repositories in
place, with a couple more having dabbled in testing repository solutions ‘behind the scenes’. The
significant majority of the HEIs in Wales had not attempted any activity in this area. In order to
enable the vision of complete national coverage within Wales the first phase of WRN saw an
injection of funds specifically directed into building, or re-enforcing, repository infrastructure and
£4,000 was provided to each institution for the purchase of new hardware or to improve existing
capacity. A critical element for success, one which paralleled and ultimately overshadowed the
provision of financial support, was the assistance offered by the technical experts within the project
team to drive forward the work needed. Guidance was provided on the complete technical process;
from the initial specification and procurement of the required solution through to the technical
training or expertise required to enable the installations. This injection of expertise provided a
unique opportunity for Welsh HEIs to participate in repository development much earlier than would
otherwise be possible, and in some cases allowed participation where it otherwise would simply not
be possible. The variety of approaches taken reflect the diversity of the institutions within the
consortium and they range from hosted and partnership agreements, through small-scale regional
collaborations to a fully hosted commercial repository solution. Table I provides an overview of the
hardware and repository software choices made by the 12 Welsh institutions.
Take in Table I
Table I Overview of hardware and repository software choices made by the 12 Welsh institutions
Institution
Platform
Hardware overview
Aberystwyth University
DSpace
Bangor University
DSpace
One dedicated web application
server and one shared file and
database server
Shared space on the central
6
Cardiff University
EPrints
Glyndŵr University
Berkeley Press DigitalCommons
hosted service
DSpace
Royal Welsh College of Music
and Drama
web platform system
One virtual server on an ESX
cluster split over 2 sites
Not applicable
Swansea University
DSpace
1x Windows Server 2003 virtual
server hosted by the University
of Glamorgan
1 virtualized dedicated server
Swansea Metropolitan
University
Trinity College Carmarthen
DSpace
1 dedicated repository server
DSpace
1 dedicated repository server
University of Glamorgan
DSpace
University of Wales, Lampeter
DSpace
University of Wales, Newport
DSpace
1x Windows Server 2003 virtual
server
1 dedicated repository server
externally hosted by
Aberystwyth University
1 dedicated repository server
University of Wales Institute
Cardiff
DSpace
1 virtualized server
It can be seen in Table I that most HEIs opted to use DSpace (http://www.dspace.org), the open
access repository software originally developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with
Hewlett Packard. Eprints, the open access repository software developed at Southampton
University (http://www.eprints.org/software/) was used at Cardiff University and Glyndŵr
University chose a hosted solution (http://www.bepress.com/ir).
Detailed case studies of the 12 hardware installations have been published (Welsh Repository
Network, 2009) describing in more detail the institutional makeup, current computing infrastructure,
and hardware purchases made by each.
3.3 Firm foundations: providing expert guidance and on site support
The original vision for WRN envisaged an operational open access digital repository in every Welsh
HEI, that forms an integral part of the learning, teaching, research and administrative fabric of each
host institution. Installing the software and technical capability of the network was the easy bit unfortunately it is not a case of ‘if you build it they will come’. The repository and the services it can
provide to the academic community need to be discussed, formalised, promoted and integrated in
order to stimulate the change of culture required within the institution to allow engagement with
the repository. In recognition of the need to address these softer, cultural and administrative issues,
and through WRN staff’s involvements with a sister project the Repositories Support Programme
(RSP – http://www.rsp.ac.uk), a programme of organisational support was also delivered to the
Welsh institutions. Through regular on-site visits, a programme of repository events and the
delivery of a dedicated support service the project team addressed a variety of issues with the
network. Each institution had to address a range of issues including the metadata requirements,
7
managing the copyright and rights issues, handling embargoed repository content and formulating
the policy framework which surrounds both the day-to-day operation and the strategic positioning
of the repository. The following quote from Helen Thomas, the Central Services Librarian at the
University of Wales Institute in Cardiff provides evidence of the important role of the WRN project
team:
"The advice and support provided by the team is invaluable. Their knowledge of repositories
has enabled us to respond to local queries in a swift and accurate manner and their answers
on procedural and technical issues have aided our project development"
3.4 Collaboration in action: realising the network
Beyond the day to day support provided by the WRN project team, a formal communications
infrastructure has been built around the operation of the network. Key contacts at each institution
meet on a quarterly basis for WRN business meetings. The diverse membership of this group,
alongside invited representatives from external partners, allows the project team to use the
meetings for both discussion, and to report and exchange information with the WRN guiding bodies
of WHELF and JISC. For much of the year the meetings take place using video conferencing facilities
at all HEIs but every summer the opportunity is taken to meet up face-to-face. The summer meeting
of the WRN at the Gregynog Colloquium has become a standing feature on the Welsh repository
calendar and in recent years it has grown into two day ‘mini’ repositories conference. The expanded
format allows the WRN project team to deliver hands-on training to members of the network and
invite external speakers to make presentations on related topics. The benefits of a formal annual
‘get together’ have been numerous, not least allowing the WRN to promote its activities to a wider
audience and build upon its reputation for delivering successful collaboration in action. The
following quote came from a delegate at the 2009 Gregynog Colloquium:
“I’d like to see more from the fantastic people at Aber who ran the copyright workshop for
repositories - of outstanding interest and use!”
Figure 3 provides a screenshot of the opening page of the WRN.
Take in Figure 3
Figure 3. Screenshot of the opening page of the WRN.
8
4. WRN 2009-2011
4.1 Moving forward: content, content, content!
In April 2009 the WRN made a successful bid for continuation funding from JISC and under the
Information Environment Programme (http://www.jisc.org.uk/whatwedo/programmes/inf11.aspx )
the team are now funded to deliver ongoing support and enhancement of the network until March
2011. The focus for the second phase of project funding has moved away from establishing the
technical capability and infrastructure needed for repositories, towards the need to focus on content
generation and population of the repositories. The Welsh situation reflects those issues being faced
by the worldwide community and the project team are aiming towards achievements defined by the
milestones outlines in the JISC document Digital Repositories Roadmap Review. Essentially, we have
the repositories but we now need some content to fill them!
Improved user engagement is being sought through a combination of methods. The WRN team is
providing ongoing training, support and information about repositories to the community to allow
them to embed repositories in their strategic landscape and advocate repository use to their
institutions. In parallel the team are investigating potential improvements to repository workflows
and improvements to repository user interfaces. Growth across the WRN partner repositories is
being mapped during the lifetime of the project and initial figures show hopeful signs of growth.
Between July and October 2009 the Welsh repositories saw just over a 12% increase in the number
of items deposited in the repositories. While this figure conceals some dramatic variations in
individual levels of growth among the institutions it hopefully indicates that we are heading in the
9
right direction. The following sections of this article will highlight some of the innovative ways in
which the activities of the WRN are hoping to stimulate the population and use of repositories.
4.2 Welsh research in the spotlight: harvesting e-theses
At present all doctoral and some masters students within Wales submit two copies of their thesis or
dissertation. One copy is for their local university library, and the other is for the National Library of
Wales. A previous JISC funded project, the Repository Bridge, devised a solution for the electronic
harvesting of theses (Bell and Lewis, 2006). In liaison with the National Library of Wales and
Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) of the British Library (http://ethos.bl.uk), the project
team are now working on converting the project system into a scalable service, harvesting theses
from university repositories, and then ingesting them into both the National Library of Wales’
archival system and a public facing open access repository. Work on the technical component of the
harvesting service is almost complete with roll out of the software plug-ins beginning in December
2009. Over and above the technical capability to allow harvesting of e-theses, this activity requires
significant consultation across the partners as to the model to be used, the costs involved and to
stimulate buy-in from the institutions concerned. Current work surveying e-theses activity across the
sector has drawn out several issues, notably the bibliographic control of metadata required for
theses in order to generate high quality, preservation standard records and the legal issues
surrounding ensuring appropriate rights transfer arrangements are in place and risk management
approaches being used to address third-party copyright issues.
4.3 Outsourcing the effort: A mediated deposit bureau?
The WRN has found that a significant impediment to establishing and embedding an institutional
repository is the lack of dedicated staff time to devote to repository work. Only one institution
(Aberystwyth University) within Wales has the luxury of a full-time repository administrator with
most institutions slotting repository work into the job descriptions of various existing staff. In
response to this situation the WRN is pursuing an experimental exploration of a centralised national
mediated deposit service and four Welsh institutions are participating in the ‘WRN Mediated Deposit
Bureau’. It is hoped that by outsourcing some of the effort involved in processing repository
submissions a number of outcomes will be in evidence. Initially the extra effort should see an
increase in the number of items held within the partner repositories, but it is also hoped that these
increases will then have an incremental effect and improve the likelihood that academics will engage
with the concept of a repository. Once researchers see some of their publications being archived it is
hoped that they will then continue to contribute to the repository and submit their ongoing work. A
memorandum of understanding has been drafted to set out the terms and conditions of the service
and work is currently underway to identify sources of publications data for processing, establish the
access requirements needed for remote processing of that data, and set out the quality standards
and scope required for each participant. Work will begin on processing mediated deposits in early
2010. Early indicators of the likely content institutions want to outsource are large discreet packages
of retrospective data that they would like to migrate into the repository, typically retrospective
publications data that were submitted for the UK universities’ Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
of 2008 and/or special collections of digital material. Interestingly none of the participants has
chosen to outsource the day-to-day repository submissions received within the institution – these
are perceived to be at a level which can be absorbed into existing workloads and there is a desire to
have some level of independence. Retaining ongoing submissions to the repository will allow staff to
learn about the processes involved and to improve staff skills in order to be able to embed
10
repository administration into daily roles. The benefits of the experiment are two-sided – institutions
get a boost to help get some significant content into their repositories but the project team also get
to analyse the workflow process in some detail. It is the intention of the team to use screen capture
software to map the actions taken while processing each deposit and subsequent analysis of these
screen casts should provide useful data in a number of ways. In particular, the final report for this
experiment will comment on sustainability of such a service and provide information on per unit
costs.
5. Conclusion: support needs still uppermost
Exciting times are ahead for the WRN. Our network in a physical sense is becoming firmly
established, the project team have recently added a cross-Wales repository search
(http://www.wrn.aber.ac.uk/en/search.html ) to the website.
Take in Figure 4
Figure 4. Screenshot of a cross-Wales repository search.
The e-theses harvesting will also be coming on stream in 2010 and the fact that data will then be
moving between our repositories will ensure that the physical repository network within Wales is a
fully functioning reality. However, the human element of the network cannot be underestimated
and the project team face real ongoing issues in keeping the community motivated and engaging
and embedding repositories within institutions. Efforts to maintaining the momentum are being
11
addressed primarily through a wide-ranging dissemination and communication plan. It was
recognised that the project expertise, and, in particular, the tangible deliverables being generated
through project activities, could be better shared with others so the project team are using a range
of innovative mechanisms to deliver support through online and remote means. A WRN real time
chat service (http://www.wrn.aber.ac.uk/en/chat.html) has been introduced alongside a project
blog (http://welshrepositorynetwork.blogspot.com). A focus has also been placed on interactive
learning and the first of a suite of WRN learning objects on repository management topics was
published in November 2009 (http://www.wrn.aber.ac.uk/en/objects.html). It is understood that
not everyone involved with repositories can dedicate the time and resources necessary to attend all
of the current training opportunities and these learning objects will go some way to filling in the
gaps, offering training that can be delivered remotely, at a time convenient to an individual. These
activities will raise the profile of the WRN on the international repository stage, enhance sharing and
ensure wider dissemination of information generated by the project. Collaboration and support still
underpin success.
References
Bell, J. and Lewis, S. (2006), “ Using OAI-PMH and METS for exporting metadata and digital objects
between repositories”, Program: electronic library and information systems, Volume 40, No. 3, pp.
268-276, available at: http://hdl.handle.net/2160/203 (accessed 12th January 2010).
Heery, R. and Powell, A. (2006), Digital Repositories Roadmap: Looking Forward, Eduserve and
UKOLN, Bath, available at: http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/rep-roadmap-v15.doc
(accessed 12th January 2010).
Heery, R. (2009), Digital Repositories Roadmap Review: Towards a Vision for Research and Learning
in 2013, available at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/themes/infoenvironment/reproadmapreviewfinal.doc
(accessed 12th January 2010).
JISC (2005), Digital Repositories, Helping Universities and Colleges: A Briefing Paper, available at:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/uploaded_documents/HE_repositories_briefing_paper_2005.pdf (accessed
12th January 2010).
Simpson, Pauline and Hey, Jessie (2006), “Repositories for research: Southampton’s evolving role in
the knowledge cycle”, Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp224231
Welsh Repository Network (2009), Repository Hardware Case Studies, available at:
http://cadair.aber.ac.uk/dspace/handle/2160/1881 (accessed 12th January 2010).
12
Keywords
Digital Repositories, Collaboration, Wales, support, Higher Education
Classification
Case study
13