Leicester Research Archive (LRA): the work of a repository administrator

Leicester Research Archive (LRA):

the work of a repository administrator

Questions

• What do we do at the LRA?• What sort of material goes into the LRA?• How many items are we talking about?• Levels of deposit?• The process of mounting material onto the

LRA– What do we do? – How long does it take?

Day-to-day tasks

• Answering authors’ queries• How to deposit? Copyrights? Which version of

an article? • There is a lot of liaison work between LRA staff

and authors before an item is added to the LRA.

• Adding e-copies of theses to the LRA• Adding research outputs to the LRA• Fulfilling EThOS requests• Maintaining current awareness on open

access and repository developments

Material in the LRA• In theory, any type of research outputs

– In practice, books & books chapters, reports, articles, conference papers & presentations (including posters), software, working papers, datasets, preprints, some MSc Dissertations, theses

• Two open access mandates:– Mandatory deposit of research outputs

(May 2009 – applies from January 2006 onwards)

– “Academic staff are required to submit their research publications to both the OA web-based LRA and the internal central research publications database”

• Any research outputs• Mainly journal publications• Oddities: ‘living’ website

– Mandatory submission of an electronic copy of all doctoral theses (2008)

Some figures for the LRA

• How many research outputs are produced at the University of Leicester every year?– Circa 6,000 research outputs– Of which, 4,000 journal articles

• How many theses are submitted every year?– Circa 300 theses per year

• Staffing levels: – 1.6 FTE person (LRA day-to-day administration)– a manager (LRA development and repository

advocacy within the university and outside the institution)

Volume of items received every month

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Nov08

Dec08

Jan09

Feb09

Mar09

Apr09

May09

Jun09

July09

Aug09

Sept09

Oct09

Nov09

Dec09

Jan10

Feb10

Items Received

Levels of deposits

• Very good compliance rate for submission of electronic copies of theses – part of the requirement for graduation

• Research outputs– Compliance rate is variable– Influx of publications coming in after the

repository manager goes out in the departments to talk to academics – though lists of publications may be sent by a few enthusiasts only

– Some disciplinary differences are noted

The process of uploading material onto the LRA

• The process itself is simple:– Receive and store the files

• it is your first contact with authors and no doubt not the last one

– Check paperwork/copyrights– Create a record on the LRA + append the

file– Notify the authors and the cataloguing team

• But how long it takes to do it may vary greatly from one item to another

Knowledge Sharing

• Use of a wiki:– Helps with the workflow– Record of procedures for consistency– Interactive manual– Platform for discussion– Quick and easy update– Involvement of all team members

• Following what is going on in the wider community through discussion lists

Thank you!

Back to Gareth now…