Task Group Cerif/CRIS-IR

TG Cerif/CRIS-IR Ed Simons, Radboud University Nijmegen (NL) Projectleader academic information systems development. -Initiator of the “METIS Research System”, used by all universities and the Royal Academy of Sciences in the Netherlands. -Project leader “OPUS-College” project: a student information system for the universities in Mozambique and Zambia.

TG Cerif/CRIS-IR Why this task group? -CRIS and IR are dealing with the same information (objects): output (publications) of research and have a lot of (meta)data in common. -They have developed in different environments (units, cultures…) which are often totally separated and unaware of each other(s business) (research administration / university library). -Resulting in: double registration of information, differences in definition of the same entities and attributes, etc… In short: a suboptimal situation when it comes to communicating and promoting the university’s research and research groups. Opportunities are missed simply because for instance the IR-community is unaware of the added value and enrichment the metadata stored in a CRIS could bring to the repositories. -So: promoting and creating the interoperability (combination/integration) of CRIS and IR can really boost and optimize research information management within the university and the promotion and visibility of the institution’s research towards the outside world.

TG Cerif/CRIS-IR -TG is in a starting phase. -Therefore the purpose of this presentation is to give an overview of the possible: – Points of action of the TG (which tasks)? – The Work Plan to deal with these action points.

TG Cerif/CRIS-IR: General Objective “To work out an optimal solution for the interoperability of Research Information Systems (CRIS) on the one hand and Institutional Repositories (IR) on the other, on a European scale, taking into account all relevant aspects.”

TG CRIS-IR: Concrete Tasks 1.Discussing and defining the theoretical and strategic view underlying an optimal interoperability of CRIS-IR (so to speak the underlying “philosophical” part of the job). Why is a combination/integration of CRIS and IR important, what’s the added value for the stakeholders involved... 2.Inventory of the current existing practices at the EuroCRIS member universities concerning the interoperability CRIS-IR, including all aspects (technical, organisational, division of labour, workflow...). 3.Determine and define the optimal joint or common set of metadata for CRIS-IR’s. 4.Define a CERIF-XML based standard European interoperability format for CRIS-IR. 5.Work out the corresponding technical solutions to realize the interoperability.

TG CRIS-IR: Concrete Tasks 6.Work out models/proposals for optimal organisation of workflows and management activities related to CRIS-IR. 7.Actively promote the cooperation between the CRIS and OAR communities.

TG CRIS-IR: Working Tools For all of this we should have some appropriate tools for communication / exchange of ideas between the members of the CRIS-IR TG. One of these tools could be a communication / list as for instance the ones hosted and offered by SURFnet in the Netherlands.

TG CRIS-IR: Work Plan 1.First half of December 2009: putting in place a communication tool (SURFlist) for the TG members by the TG leader. 2.December 2009: start of an inventory of the current practices in interoperability between CRIS/IR in the EuroCRIS member institutions. To this end and as a first step a draft of an inventory form will be formulated by the TG-leader and distributed to the TG members for comments.

TG CRIS-IR: Work Plan 3. January 2010: start of the discussion within the TG concerning the optimal combined set of metadata for CRIS and IR’s. The findings of the “Knowledge Exchange CRIS-OAR interoperability project” (KE- project) will act as input and point of departure for this discussion. More notably the: – Entity and attributes mappings between various CRIS and OAR implementations and – The mappings of semantics used in both CRIS and OAR

TG CRIS-IR: Work Plan 4.Spring 20010: start up the work towards an optimal model concerning the organisational and workflow aspects related to an interoperable CRIS-IR. In practice the focus most probable would be on optimising the organisational relationship and workflows between the unit(s) in an institution dealing with the CRIS on the one hand and the library on the other.

TG CRIS-IR: Work Plan 5.Spring/Summer 2010 (closely related and depending on activity 2): starting the work on defining an optimal CERIF-XML “combined schema” for interoperability between CRIS-IR.

TG CRIS-IR: Work Plan : starting up the “philosophics” concerning CRIS-IR: discussing and constructing the strategic vision and theoretical framework on which an optimal policy (on an institutional, national and international level) concerning CRIS-IR can be based.

TG CRIS-IR: Be welcome to join… If you’re interested in this subject, please be welcomed to join the Task Group. Send an to: