Dear Julie
Sorry I haven't replied earlier.
We have a CRIS (Research Expertise database) at St Andrews
(http://portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/research-expertise/) holding RI on all
our researchers. This reads data directly from several other central
systems eg Human Resources, Research Grants Management, Student database
(supervised students), RAEStore (all except the first are
password-protected at the moment).
The database uses a locally specified data structure, although it is
highly normalised and I am hopeful that it can be easily converted to
CERIF format .. given the resources! This would also allow us to create
more robust links between staff, research projects and output. At the
moment, research projects and linked to staff and outputs are linked to
staff .. but the third side of the triangle (output to research
projects) is not there.
The data stored in the CRIS is being sucked into other areas such
individual School web-pages, for example that for Modern Languages
(http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/modlangs/french/french_staff.php) and
Biology (http://bio.st-andrews.ac.uk/staffProfile.aspx?sunID=mfw2). We
are also working on a media-friendly front-end. Our aim is to create one
central database for this information that (i) individuals can keep up
to date and (ii) can pull in relevant data from other central systems ..
making it more transparent and therefore less error-prone !
As far as a link to a repository is concerned, we are working with
Edinburgh University to setup a dSpace full-text repository which will
link to this CRIS and so present a single point of entry for our
researchers to enter metadata about research output and upload the
full-text. The CRIS will be the driver and pass DC metadata and
full-text files via a web-service to dSpace. We aim to have this
facility working very shortly.
All the best
Anna
Julie Allinson wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm trying to find out the extent to which repositories metadata and/or
> digital objects with their Research Information Systems, particularly in
> the UK. If anybody out there is doing this, please could you let me
> know about your experiences, good or bad. How is this data being
> exchanged, in what format (CERIF, DC, locally specified metadata?) and
> do you maintain the connection between research projects, staff and the
> resulting publications etc. deposited into the repository? I've heard of
> repositories importing from a range of locally-held databases in a
> fairly ad-hoc way, but I'd be interested in any examples of achieving
> real interoperability between systems.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Julie
>
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_______________________________________________________________________
Anna Clements
Project Manager/Facilitator
Business Improvements
University of St Andrews
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01334 462761
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