I agree with you, Les, that the repository manager and the library are
not enforcers. (We do actually employ one "enforcer" in the library, the
university's Copyright Manager, but that is rather different.)
However, what I have been asked to do, being best placed to do so, is to
take a role in formulating the policy proposals that senior management
will decide upon, since knowledge of repository issues is generally low.
When I say that *we* have to negotiate these mandates, I mean the
various partners involved in the process across the university. I would
not be surprised either if I was asked to assess compliance, though it
wouldn't be my role to enforce it.
That won't happen anyway, since I'm moving to UKOLN from mid September.
Cheers,
Talat
-----Original Message-----
From: Les Carr [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 26 June 2008 18:53
To: Talat Chaudhri [tac]
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: It's Keystrokes All the Way Down
On 26 Jun 2008, at 13:01, Talat Chaudhri [tac] wrote:
> Quite simply because *in practice* we have to *negotiate* these
> mandates
> with representatives of the academics who will be doing the deposits.
It puts the library in an impossible position if senior managers
expect them to *enforce* their mandates. The role of the library
should be to facilitate and enable researchers to comply with
mandates, but not to take responsibility for compliance. That must
stay with the policy makers themselves.
> In order to convince them to put a mandate in place, they want
> answers to
> all of the issues that surround working practices, incentives,
> copyright
> and so on that have been rightly brought up today.
...for which the senior management must take responsibility.
There are a number of academics in our school who deposit **despite
their misgivings** because the Chair of Research Committee has told
them that they have to. I wasn't asked to do that as repository
manager, and neither should you!
--
Les Carr
|