The Research Information Network: what is it and what does it do? Stéphane Goldstein USTLG Summer meeting University of Liverpool, 22 June 2006

Fundamental premise… "It is a very sad thing that nowadays there is so little useless information" Oscar Wilde

RIN sponsors The four UK Higher Education Funding Councils England (HEFCE), Scotland (SHEFC), Wales (HEFCW), Northern Ireland (DELNI) The eight Research Councils Arts and Humanities (AHRC) Biotechnology and Biological Sciences (BBSRC) Central Laboratory (CCLRC) Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPSRC) Economic and Social (ESRC) Medical (MRC) Natural Environment (NERC) Particle Physics and Astronomy (PPARC) The three National Libraries British Library (BL) National Library of Scotland (NLS) National Library of Wales (NLW)

RIN structure Funders’ Group Advisory Board Consultative Groups Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Life Sciences and Medicine Physical Sciences, Engineering and Technology Library and Information Sciences Executive team Michael Jubb (Director) Stéphane Goldstein (Planning & Project Officer) Jackie Van Bueren (PA to Director)

RIN interlocutors In addition to our 15 sponsors… Libraries and representative organisations (CURL, SCONUL…) JISC MLA Research funders Data centres UUK Publishers Government Departments International (OCLC/RLG, JSTOR, European Union…) And others…

RIN mission “To lead and co-ordinate new developments in the collaborative provision of research information for the benefit of researchers in the UK” all disciplines and subjects all kinds of information sources used by and produced by researchers (digital and non-digital) the research base both in the HE sector and beyond

What do we mean by research information? Information produced by researchers Journal articles Monographs Reports Datasets Other outputs (software, performances, tools…) Information used or needed by researchers Publications produced by other researchers (articles etc) Data and other outputs produced by other researchers Publications, reports and data produced by a wide range of individuals and organisations Manuscripts, artefacts, sounds, images

RIN strategic aims: I To develop, with the active involvement of key stakeholders, a strategic framework for enhancing the UK research information infrastructure To ensure that the research community contributes to and collaborates in a programme of action tailored to its needs To act as an advocate for research information provision at the highest levels of policy-making in the UK, and to represent the interests of UK researchers in relevant international forums

RIN strategic aims: II To co-ordinate action to improve the arrangements for researchers to find information sources relevant to their work, and how they may gain access to them To lead the development of a programme to sustain and enhance management and development of the aggregate UK collection of published hard copy research resources To co-ordinate action to ensure that the outputs researchers produce and need are retained and made available for use in the most effective way

RIN activities: search and discovery Consultancy study of researchers’ behaviour and perceptions in the use of resource discovery services and tools Preparation of a map of current services Telephone interviews with 450 researchers To be completed by mid-July Discovery services for library and archive holdings COPAC, SUNCAT, ZETOC, Archives Hub and similar services Workshop for key stakeholders JISC Review What are the priorities now in retroconversion?

RIN activities: access Report on the RSLP Access Funding Scheme Further work on the impact of recent developments and initiatives, and how researchers are making use of them Forthcoming study on extending the coverage of online catalogues Support for SCONUL Research Extra Linkages with Inspire and UK Libraries Plus Relationships with M25 Looking to develop a relationship with USTLG Expert group on walk-in access for members of the public to academic journals

RIN activities: researchers and libraries If UK is to sustain its position as the leading research nation outside the US, it needs a world- class research information infrastructure. What role do libraries play in this? Researchers’ interest less in the collections of individual libraries, more in the information resources to which they can provide access Need for better understanding of how researchers are using libraries, and want them to develop how effective libraries are in providing services for researchers and in meeting their information needs RIN study about to be commissioned

RIN activities: scholarly communications I Work with key stakeholders from funding agencies, Government, libraries and publishers; developing a collaborative, shared agenda Impact of new technologies on all the key stages/functions in the scholarly communications process doing research and producing research outputs identifying and protecting intellectual property rights quality assurance and the peer review of research outputs presenting, publishing and disseminating outputs in both digital and printed forms providing access to quality-assured and authentic published outputs assessing usage and impact preserving and providing access to published outputs in both digital and printed forms, for the indefinite future Changing roles of the key players, and resulting tensions between them

RIN activities: scholarly communications II RIN study into the policy and practice of UK research funders – nearly completed Looking at how a selection of funders manage the information outputs of their funded research Issues covered include institutional repositories and data management Workshop planned for the autumn Ongoing analysis of available data on scholarly journal publishing – to be completed in September Including data on journal demand-side and supply-side economics, usage and alternative dissemination models Study jointly commissioned with RCUK and DTI

RIN activities: digital content I Increasing need to manage and provide access to digital data, as well as formal publications Little consistency in policy and practice across major research funders and institutions Need to recognise different requirements that arise in handling different kinds of data from different sources Increasing international interest OECD, US National Science Board, Australian DEST Increasing need for guidelines and protocols

RIN activities: digital content II Work with JISC, BL and others on “a co-ordinated framework of principles and best practice for the provision of online e-content” Work with JISC, CCLRC, E-Science programme on framework of principles for the handling of data and access to it First draft of principles has been the subject of limited consultation Workshop planned in the autumn to ‘test’ the principles notably with data centre managers, but also orgs such as DISC-UK Further work needed to establish how such principles might be disseminated

RIN activities: collaborative collection management and storage Sustaining and building on what has been achieved through CoFoR and other initiatives Evaluation of CoFoR and scope for extension Development of the “National Research Reserve” proposal set out in the CURL/BL study on Optimising Storage and Access Focus on low-use material Permanent preservation Efficient, cost-effective and sustainable access Encourage disposals, to release space, and to avoid need for investment in additional storage

E-Infrastructure OST-led E-infrastructure Steering Group Aim to produce a roadmap for developing the infrastructure for the support of UK researchers over the next ten years Context is the 2007 Spending Review Six sub-groups, one on search and navigation, led by RIN

Challenge for the future To make the case for investment and co- ordination in developing a distributed information infrastructure that provides essential services for researchers

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