Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)
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The aims of the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) Project were to establish a centre of excellence for the management of scholarly assets in digital format.
Online collections of scholarly materials are bringing about a quiet revolution in the way researchers work. Researchers have faster easier ways of finding and analyzing research materials. New modes of research and new research methodologies are all now possible. APSR was a partnership that aimed to promote excellence in building & managing these collections of digital research objects.
The Partnership received Federal Government funding to assist Australian researchers with research information management. To this end, APSR conducted outreach and educational programs and undertakes collaborative development of systems and tools.
The Partnership was an eclectic one including major research universities, the National Library of Australia, and APAC (Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing). This reflected the broad nature of the issues faced and the capabilities required in managing Australia’s research data and scholarly information in digital format.
APSR worked closely with research communities, information professionals, technical staff, and higher education policy makers on a series of development projects, surveys, publications, seminars, and training workshops. The Partnership aimed to help create the systems required for managing data and information in a research environment and simultaneously to increase the capability of Australian researchers to do so.
http://apsr.anu.edu.au/about.html
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ANU Archive Item Open Access Towards an Open Source Archival Repository and Preservation SystemBradley, Kevin; Lei, Junran; Blackall, ChrisThis report identifies possible open source pathways for sustainable preservation and, more importantly, identifies the gaps in available technology and recommends a way for UNESCO to encourage digital communities to address that shortcoming. The report may be of some value to those intending to build a digital repository, but its intended audience are those who are responsible for, or are able to influence the direction of open source development so that a packagable and affordable sustainable digital archival storage system can be developed, supported and made available.ANU Archive Item Open Access Submission to the Australian Research Council: Consultation re Funding Rules Revision(Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories) Burton, Adrian; Henty, MargaretAPSR wishes to address three matters in the Funding Rules and associated Funding Agreements as they apply to Discovery, Linkage and Special Research Initiative Grants: � the preservation and sharing of research data; � the deposition of research article preprints in institutional repositories; and � the publication of research articles in open access journals. This submission is designed to facilitate your objective that eligibility criteria for ARC funding be �robust, up to date and relevant. � In making this submission, APSR has highlighted current directions in the United Kingdom and the United States of America as best practice.ANU Archive Item Open Access Investigating Data Management Practices in Australian UniversitiesHenty, Margaret; Weaver, Belinda; Bradbury, Stephanie; Porter, SimonIt was in this environment of changing expectations for the provision of data management infrastructure that three Australian universities decided to investigate the needs of their own communities. The initiative came from The University of Queensland (UQ) and was taken up by The University of Melbourne (UM) and the Queensland University of Technology (QUT. All three are universities with an increasing focus on eResearch, and a desire to improve their support infrastructure. All three recognised that a first step towards this goal was to find out more about the current practices and training requirements of their research staff.ANU Archive Item Open Access “We Have Just Entered the Wright Brothers Phase of the Digital Era”: Data Management and Practice in the eResearch Era(Oxford e-Research Conference 2008) Henty, Margaret; Weaver, BelindaUniversities around the world are looking to improve the infrastructure that supports their eResearch. However, infrastructure means more than just high quality ICT. While supercomputing facilities and high speed internet connections are crucial components for successful eResearch, also important is the availability of trained technical staff to support researchers in both complex applications and networking. Sound data management practices are also vital to ensure that all research project data is both readily accessible to researchers on demand and safeguarded for the long term, so that the data can be revisited by the original research team, or eventually made available to other researchers.ANU Archive Item Open Access Preservation of Word-Processing Documents(Australia: Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)) Barnes, IanWord processing documents are a major problem for digital repositories. As I will explain below, they are not suitable for long-term storage, so they need to be converted into an archival format for preservation. In this report I will address the following questions: • What file formats are suitable for long-term storage of word processed text documents?; and • How can we convert documents into a suitable archival format? I also address the related non-technical question: • How can we get authors to convert and deposit their work? While the vast majority of material generated by universities is text, most research on digital preservation concentrates on images, sound recordings, video and multimedia. You could be forgiven for thinking that this is because text is simple, but unfortunately that’s not so. Even relatively short text documents (like this one) have complex structure consisting of sections (parts, chapters, subsections etc) and also of indented structures like lists and blockquotes. A significant part of the meaning is lost if that structure is ignored (for example by saving as plain text).ANU Archive Item Open Access Survey of Data Collections: A Research Project Undertaken for the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories(Australia: Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)) Bradley, Kevin; Henty, MargaretThis report draws together the findings of the Survey of Data Collections conducted in the APSR partner Universities in 2005. The information derived from the process is intended to feed into the next stage of APSR work, providing specific data for the design of software tools, development of repositories, assessment of risk and development of risk management approaches, implementation of preservation metadata and the development of supported formats. The survey of the collections was also developed to help characterise the types of data repositories, to determine if different sorts of data sets needed different facilities, technology or management. The process raised a number of issues which were covered in the survey questions and analysis. This was expected and where appropriate will inform the APSR process and identification of issues. The survey process has also helped to identify datasets with whom APSR will be able to undertake further sustainability investigations with other data sets.ANU Archive Item Open Access Defining File Format Obsolescence: A Risky Journey(The International Journal of Digital Curation) Pearson, David; Webb, ColinFile format obsolescence is a major risk factor threatening the ongoing usefulness of digital information collections. While the preservation community has become increasingly interested in tools for assessing a wide range of risks, the National Library of Australia is developing mechanisms specifically focused on the risks of format obsolescence. The paper reports on the AONS II Project, undertaken in conjunction with the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR). The project aimed to refine and develop a software tool that would automatically find and report indicators of obsolescence risks, to help repository managers decide if preservation action is needed. The paper discusses the current mismatch between this objective and the available sources of information on file formats, and emphasises the need to take account of both local and global factors in assessing risk. The paper calls for the preservation community to engage with the further development of thinking about file format obsolescence. TheANU Archive Item Open Access Dreaming of Data: The Library's Role in Supporting e-Research and Data Management(Australia: Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)) Henty, MargaretThe increasing focus on eResearch comes with an increasing focus on data management, data use, data sharing and data re-use. This presents a challenge to research institutions as they decide where the responsibility for all of this data lies. Libraries have long had a role in managing text-based materials in the digital environment, as can be seen by the rapid take up of institutional repositories and many library ventures into electronic publishing of different kinds. There are many who see that the library has a significant role to play here, and several Australian university libraries are already actively engaged in data management in its broadest sense, as are state libraries, the National Library and others. This paper examines the capabilities and skills required within research institutions as they implement the organisational and cultural change which will be needed. It is based on two surveys conducted in 2007. The Skills for eResearch Project undertaken by APSR included interviews and surveys of a range of people associated with the eResearch agenda. The findings suggest that the provision of appropriately skilled personnel will be key factor in moving forward, and that the skills required go far beyond the technical. At the same time, there are currently many barriers to the conduct of eResearch and these will need to be addressed in order to develop new services supporting institutional capability. The Data Management Survey was conducted by three Australian universities in late 2007 and looked at the data management practices of researchers. The results show both positives and negatives, and point towards areas for improvement.ANU Archive Item Open Access Sustainability Issues for Australian Research Data: The report of the Australian eResearch Sustainability Survey Project(Australia: Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)) Buchhorn, Markus; McNamara, PaulThe Australian e-Research Sustainability Survey (AERES) project was undertaken by the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) and the Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing (APAC) to survey the sustainability issues for data-intensive research projects, including the capabilities and demands of research groups and institutions for the storage, access, and long-term management of research data.ANU Archive Item Open Access Sustainable Paths for Data-Intensive Research Communities at the University of Melbourne: A Report for the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories(Australia: Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)) Shadbolt, Anna; van der Kniff, Dirk; Young, Eve; Winton, LyallThis report presents the local project findings with a view to identifying how these findings may add to the knowledge base for informing an e-research strategy for the University of Melbourne. It also provides important considerations for how major Government initiatives in research policy and funding might impact on research data and records management requirements. Eleven research communities from diverse disciplines were consulted for an audit of their data management practices. Researchers from these communities represent a number of diverse disciplines: Applied Economics; Astrophysics; Computer Science and Software Engineering; Education; Ethnography; Experimental Particle Physics; Humanities informatics; Hydrology and Environmental Engineering; Linguistics; Medical informatics; Neuroscience and the Performing Arts. In addition to the specific findings for each group audited, the project findings also provide information about sustainability issues around research data management practices at the university.ANU Archive Item Open Access Preservation of TeX/LaTeX Documents(Australia: Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)) Barnes, IanI will address the following questions in this report: 1. Is TeX/LaTeX an adequate long-term preservation format? 2. Is there a viable process for converting TeX/LaTeX into DocBook XML + MathML? 3. How good is the support for MathML (for rendering to the screen by web browsers, and for rendering to PDF by XSL-FO processors)? I will also cover some other related issues, including the possibility of outsourcing preservation of TeX/LaTeX documents to existing archives like arXiv[13], and using the TeX typsetting engine to produce good quality PDF renditions of XML documents, including those with mathematical content in the form of embedded MathML. I will finish with some recommendations.ANU Archive Item Open Access Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) Brochure 2007Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)ANU Archive Item Open Access Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) 2006Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)ANU Archive Item Open Access Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) Brochure 2005-2006Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)ANU Archive Item Open Access Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR) Brochure 2005-2006Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)ANU Archive Item Open Access Identifying Researchers: Some Formal ConsiderationsNicholas, NickANU Archive Item Open Access Thomson Reuters ResearcherIDBennett, Andrew; Liu, GeehoANU Archive Item Open Access ANU Archive Item Open Access Managing Author NamesBlake, Katie; Morgan, TeulaANU Archive Item Open Access