Academic institutional repositories in China:A survey of CALIS member libraries

Purpose: China Academic Library & Information System(CALIS) planned to launch an institutional repository(IR) project to promote IR development and open access at colleges and universities in China. In order to get to know the current state of IRs in academic institutions, with the help of Peking University Library, CALIS Administrative Center conducted this survey.Design/methodology/approach: We conducted an online survey of CALIS member libraries.Findings: Firstly, the development of IRs at China's colleges and universities is still in its infancy. Secondly, the Chinese colleges and universities have reached a consensus on the objective for having an IR. Thirdly, they are having high expectations of IR functions. Fourthly,they prefer to establish a centralized IR system at a minimum cost. Finally, there are both similarities and differences between the Chinese academic institutions and their counterparts in other countries in the state of IR development.Research limitations: The questionnaire needs to be improved because there is a lack of enough questions for those who do not plan to build an IR. Comparatively lower rate of valid questionnaire return can affect the accuracy of the results. It is hard to go into an in-depth discussion only based on the data collected from this questionnaire survey, and consequently,the findings from the survey can hardly present an accurate and comprehensive picture of the current state of IR development in the academic sector in China.Practical implications: The survey results provide essential foundation for CALIS IR project,and meanwhile the research can serve as a reference source for the future studies of the development of IRs at China's colleges and universities.Originality/value: It is the first national survey focused on the development of IRs in academic institutions in China.

Developing institutional repositories network:Taking IR Grid at Chinese Academy of Sciences as an example

This paper introduces the current practice of building a network of institutional repositories(IRs) at Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), which is named CAS IR Grid.National Science Library(NSL) of CAS plays a leading role in the construction, promotion and implementation of CAS IR Grid. It aims to promote each institute of CAS to build IR of its own, and finally form the IR network of CAS institutes. NSL's experience is introduced in coordinating and supporting institutes' building of their respective IRs and promoting IR services by adopting collaborative and progressive development strategies. Achievements made during the development of CAS IR Grid are described and challenges for its future development are discussed. The authors aim to provide best practices for developing a network of institutional repositories in research institute settings, which can serve as a practical reference to other institutions engaged in the similar task.

Defining an open access resource strategy for research libraries:Part Ⅰ—The coming main streamlization of open access resources?

Open access(OA) resources are becoming a main part of scholarly information. The paper summarizes the fast growth of OA journals and OA repositories, the outstanding OA journal impact increase, the rise of mega-OA journals like PLoS ONE, the overwhelming support of research communities to open access of publicly funded research, and the quick building up of OA support structures. These forces work together to push scholarly communications toward a turning point where OA resources occupy a major and increasing share of scholarly research resources and when management of OA resources becomes a strategic, yet unfamiliar, and potentially disruptive task for research libraries. This paper is composed of two parts. The first part will focus on the development of OA resources, while the second part will analyze the challenges in management of OA resources and develop an OA resource strategy exemplified by some of NSL's initiatives.

Knowledge exchange:A strategy for open access success at The University of Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong’s statement on vision now has three themes:1) Research, 2) teaching & learning, and 3) knowledge exchange(KE). KE emphasizes HKU’s desire to interact with its community for a mutual benefit. A new five-year strategic plan(2009-2014) sets out operational priorities and key indicators to enable knowledge exchange at HKU. Chief among these is the establishment of an exchange hub to make HKU researchers and their research products highly visible. The institutional repository of HKU, the HKU Scholars Hub, developed by its University Libraries, has become this KE exchange hub. Now the Hub includes HKU ResearcherPages, featuring the accomplishments of each HKU professoriate staff. HKU’s policy on knowledge exchange and the HKU ResearcherPages have increased the incentive for faculties, departments, and authors to place more items in open access(OA). This paper will discuss what KE is, the benefits it can bring to the university and its reputation, and how it can increase OA deposit.

基于IR模式的双语教学资源平台的构建研究

双语教学是当前教育国际化的一个重要措施,已起得良好的成效。然而,双语教学是一个系统过程,教学质量的提高需要有双语教学资源的长期积累过程。本文结合本校双语教学实践,提出了机构存储模式下双语教学资源平台建设的意义,并对构建模式、平台特点及流程设计等方面进行了探讨,最后总结了基于.net平台的系统实现思路及发展方向。以期对同类系统的设计与开发提供一定的借鉴与参考作用。

Implementing Open Access Policy:First case studies

When implementing open access, policy pioneers and flagship institutions alike have faced considerable challenges in meeting their own aims and achieving a recognized success. Legitimate authority, sufficient resources and the right timing are crucial, but the professionals charged with implementing policy still need several years to accomplish significant progress. This study defines a methodological standard for evaluating the first generation of open access policies. Evaluating implementation establishes evidence, enables reflection, and may foster the emergence of a second generation of open access policies.While the study is based on a small number of cases, these case studies cover most of the pioneer institutions, present the most significant issues and offer an international overview.Each case is reconstructed individually on the basis of public documents and background information, and supported by interviews with professionals responsible for open access implementation. This article presents the highlights from each case study. The results are utilized to indicate how a second generation of policies might define open access as a key component of digital research infrastructures that provide inputs and outputs for research,teaching and learning in real time.

Documenting the University's history in a digital era: Organizing and presenting archival resources at Lingnan University

Purpose: This paper chronicles Lingnan University(Hong Kong) Library’s experience in adopting the open source archival information system, Archon, and an institutional repository(IR) platform, Digital Commons, to create a holistic system for describing, managing and preserving the University’s historical documents.Design/Methodology/Approach: By combining the strength of Archon with Digital Commons, the Library can apply proper archival encoding practice with digital publishing capability to assemble the disparate and fragmentary Lingnan historical records into a more cohesive and well-organized historical collection facilitating wider access.Findings: Both the encoding process and digital publishing efforts have broadened access to several unique and valuable Lingnan records, providing greater search capabilities and accessibility. These initial sets of processed resources have successfully attracted attention from researchers and alumni who have strong interest in consulting the records. Together Archon and Digital Commons provide an ideal platform enabling the Library to reach out to more people who may also be interested in the records and have resulted in more donations to the Archives, further enriching the collection.Research limitations: Our initial efforts have created a solid foundation that we can use to develop a comprehensive archival collection showcasing the history of Lingnan University.However, the Library will need to develop a long-term strategy to formalize University archive policy for the ongoing systematic collection of university records and the effective management of born-digital data.Practical implications: Archival or historical records no longer need to be hidden or inaccessible due to lack of appropriate finding aids and search and retrieval systems. Archon provides an organizational and descriptive framework for the Library to process archival materials and create digital finding aids instantly in compliance with international archival standards, whereas IR software such as Digital Commons offers us a digital publishing platform to present the full-text content of these records online for worldwide access. We believe that as important as it is to collect and process a university’s records for historical preservation, it is equally important to make them easily available and accessible. By exploring the possibility of adopting new tools to manage old processes, we can add value while creating visibility for materials that were once hidden and inaccessible beyond our campus.Originality/value: As the first library in greater China to adopt Archon as well as use an IR platform, Digital Commons, to process archival materials and chronicle a university’s history, Lingnan University Library introduces a new approach that blends tools and resources of both archives and libraries to present a cohesive archival collection in a new digital era.

Construction of personalized knowledg environment for professional libraries:From the practice of Chinese National Agricultural Library

Purpose:Centralized on the construction of a personalized knowledge environment that can better meet the need of Chinese agricultural researchers,this paper presents the practice conducted by the National Agricultural Library(NAL)of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS)in the digital research environment.Based on the analysis of information needs of Chinese agricultural researchers,CAAS constructed digital research environments for its researchers at different levels,by means of providing more professional knowledge services for targeted researcher users.Design/methodology/approach:On the basis of the construction of public service platform—National Agriculture Information System of the Library of CAAS(i.e.NAL),local resources were integrated with public open resources by using key technologies,such as Web 2.0,knowledge navigation,linked data and intelligent retrieval,to construct an institutional personalized digital repository for CAAS researchers.Findings:By using the construction tool CAASPKE,knowledge environment platforms have been constructed for 10 CAAS institutes,taking roughly 33%of CAAS institutes.In addition,16 discipline information environment platforms have been set up for CAAS research teams,and 5 professional digital libraries for provincial agricultural academies,which spread in Beijing,Shanxi,Sichuan,and the Xinjiang and Tibet Autonomous Regions.Research limitations:User’s local collections ought to be integrated with IR resources of the CAAS platform constantly.Due to the lack of overall knowledge resources,functions of the platform have not been fully explored,so the effect need be evaluated with the time being.Practical implications:The construction of research knowledge environment in CAAS has not only contributed to the development of its personalized knowledge service system,but also made the functions of libraries transformed into the information service system.In this case,CAAS libraries are now playing more and more important roles in the innovation process of Chinese agricultural researchers.Originality/value:The innovative practice is the first endeavor that ever implemented in the agricultural information service area across China’s mainland.The construction tool developed for the knowledge environment of personalization could customize resources flexibly according to the need of different CAAS users,and it can organize the knowledge resources of CAAS institutes effectively.