Paul Rudd Information Professional

expertise gained through experience

Subject Repositories: NEEO conference at the British Library

Subject Repositories: NEEO conference at the British Library 28th- 29th January 2010

by Paul Rudd IP on February 2, 2010

This article is about the NEEO conference that took place on the 28th – 29th January 2010. To more easily grasp an understanding of the conference it is necessary to know about Nereus and the NEEO project. Therefore, this article will begin with a brief explanation of both Nereus and the NEEO project, followed by information on the conference, my reasons for attending and a brief summation on the NEEO project and the conference.

Nereus is a network of leading economics information providers. The main goal of Nereus is in essence to integrate access to economics resources in Europe and other countries in the world by influencing their accessibility and usability. Currently European institutions are the most prominent members of the Nereus network, with the exception of two members outside of Europe; Columbia University (USA) and Monash University (AUS). Membership to the consortium requires that you are a deemed to be prestigious institution in the subject area of economics (or have a prestigious Economics department within your institution) and that you appear high on the European Economics Association ranking list. Membership also requires the payment of a relatively small fee.

A major project that the Nereus network has recently completed is the NEEO project. The NEEO project is a part EU funded project and was set up to address the lack of integration of academic output from many leading economics institutions. The result of the NEEO project has been the creation of a new research tool named Economists Online. A Subject Repository that amongst other things provides links to many full-text articles accessible via the holdings of institutional repositories of Nereaus members.

The NEEO conference held at the British Library on 28th – 29th January was to launch the result of the NEEO project; the subject repository Economists Online. In addition, it also provided background information on the project and information on digital repositories in Europe, Australia, America, together with information on the subject of economics. The main speakers consisted of a range of information specialists, economists and other professionals from a range of countries and institutions. The list of speakers were as follows: Jean Sykes, Hans Geleijnse, Nicholas Barr, Javier Hernández-Ros,Dale Heenan, Neil Jacobs, Cathrine Harboe-Ree, Patricia Renfro, Clifford Lynch, Christian Zimmermann, François Cavalier, Wietske Sijtsma, Vanessa Proudman and Paul Ayris.

My particular reasons for attending the conference were numerous. Most notably, I attended to find out more about the subject area of economics and aspects of scholarly communication associated with this subject area. I was also there to gain information on Nereus and its members and to find out more about the development and creation of Economists Online. Such as how collaboration for this project was established and how problems and difficulties encountered on the project were overcome. I also attended the conference to find out more about repositories; both Institutional and subject, and to see in person some of the people whose articles I have read whilst conducting research into digital repositories; most notably Clifford Lynch.

Due to the increasing prevalence of digital repositories – and their place in the modern information landscape – it is becoming increasingly important for information professionals to have a knowledge and understanding of these types of resources and aspects associated with their management and support. Therefore, the knowledge I gained from attending the conference would be useful for any information professional in any role and could be especially useful for staff directly involved in the management and support of a digital repository. Knowing this, I have attempted – in the rest of this article – to briefly run through a selection of the salient points discussed at the conference.

The conference coverage on digital repositories in other countries provided a wealth of useful and up-to-date information on specific repository related issues. For example, from the American perspective it was noted by many speakers that sustainability of repositories was a key issue in ensuring their longevity. Information provided by Cathrine Harboe-Ree highlighted this by drawing attention to arXiv’s recent announcement of their Collaborative Support Plan. A plan to maintain the sustainability of arXiv and its continued development by creating a collaborative business model for arXiv. This collaborative business model will allow institutions who use and benefit the most from arXiv to make voluntary contributions to it sustainability and future development. This is an interesting development and one that both highlights how costly repositories can be to maintain and develop, and the importance and need for all repositories to develop plans to maintain their sustainability for the future.

The conference also focused on issues associated with collaboration and how these were overcome. For example, it was pointed out by Vanessa Proudman that certain institutions that were involved in the NEEO project did not have an IR at the beginning. Thus, various institutions had little or no experience in relation to repositories at beginning of the project. Whereas, other institutions involved in the NEEO project had a greater level of experience and knowledge. Therefore, it was noted that project goals had to be more flexible to cope with these varied levels of expertise. The complexities of issues relating to IPR were also a feature of the conference. The complexities of IPR associated with the NEEO project were accentuated due to the fact that participating institutions spanned many countries, with each of them having their own unique and specific copyright laws and nuances in relation to IPR. Furthermore, unlike the UK it was noted that there was no equivalent to SHERPA/RoMEO to aid staff in other countries with copyright policy issues.

Another aspect that was brought to light by the speakers and delegates was the problem of populating repositories with content. This has always been a problem for IRs and it was noted by Javier Hernández-Ros that in comparison with America this still remained a major problem for European repositories. However, in relation to this it was also noted that one aspect that appeared to have consensus amongst many speakers and delegates alike was that researchers identified more keenly with their subject domain as opposed to their institution. Therefore, it appeared to be a general opinion that SRs offer more interest for researchers than IRs, due to their specific focus on subject domains. It could be concluded rather speculatively from this that the creation of further SRs could potentially aid deposit into IRs. Particularly, if SRs continue to be used as platforms to access content from IRs. Although this remains to be seen – this greater identification by researchers with the subject – as opposed to the institution is a point worth noting and adds greater relevance to the creation and existence of SRs.

In summary, the NEEO project has certainly created an interesting new subject repository and a new and useful research tool for economists. It has also enabled staff involved in the NEEO project to gain greater expertise in the area of repositories and greater experience of collaborative working. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the NEEO project and the creation of Economists Online has been connected with the collaborative aspects that lay behind its creation; and how difficulties encountered were overcome. Overall the conference provided a great deal information on the NEEO project and digital repositories. Reports on the project – that should be published in the near future – should be worth reading as they will provide more in depth and more technical information on how the project was established and managed.