ISSN ISSN 1443-0568 | no. 66 | December 2003
National Library to Participate in Backing Australia’s Ability An Innovation Action Plan for the Future
Systemic
Infrastructure Initiative
On 22 October 2003 the Commonwealth Minister for Science announced funding
to be spent by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) on
four demonstrator projects to improve Australia’s research infrastructurefor
‘managing university information’.1 Each project has a three-year
timeline, except for the Australian Digital Theses expansion and redevelopment
program.
The innovation action plan to develop systemic infrastructure is informed by a report from the Higher Education Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee (HEIIAC) in 2002, which recommended a robust strategy for the management of Australian research information in the digital environment.2 The strategy includes the storage, dissemination and publication of scholarly information and research outputs, including books, scholarly articles, theses and research data. The HEIIAC report also stressed the importance of Australian developments conforming to, and assisting the development of, international standards.
The National Library was invited to be a partner in three of the four successful projects which bid for systemic infrastructure funding in July 2003: an Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories, Australian Repositories Online to the World, and Meta Access Management System. A new group, the Australian Research Information Infrastructure Committee (ARIIC), will oversee all of the projects to ensure that the strategy outlined by the HEIIAC report is met.
An Australian
Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR)
Led by the Australian National University (ANU), this ambitious project encompasses
the development of demonstrator repositories and support for the continuity
and sustainability of digital collections. The inclusion of the Australian Partnership
for Advanced Computing (APAC) will provide an opportunity to investigate the
ramifications of accessing and managing the research data produced for and generated
by Australia’s grid infrastructure.3
The demonstrator repositories will be developed at the ANU, University of Sydney and University of Queensland. One of the key streams of activity will be an exploration of the open source software known as DSpace, which is described as a ‘groundbreaking digital library system to capture, store, index, preserve, and redistribute the intellectual output of a university’s research faculty in digital formats’.4
The National Library will have a leading role in scoping and providing advisory services to higher education institutions relating to digital continuity through long-term preservation and collection management strategies.
Australian
Repositories Online to the World (ARROW)
Led by Monash University, the ARROW collaboration will explore the use
of the open source software FEDORA, ‘a foundation upon which interoperable web-based
digital libraries, institutional repositories and other information management
systems can be built’5 to host digital repositories of research information.
The National Library has two key tasks in addition to providing advice on the use of standards internationally: firstly, to develop a national resource discovery service, and secondly, to install and populate a pilot independent scholars digital repository. Work on this project will commence in December 2003.
Meta Access
Management System (MAMS)
Led by Macquarie University, this complex project will investigate some
of the layers required in the common services architecture necessary to underpin
all information infrastructure. Common services include authentication, access
management and digital management of rights.
The National Library’s key role will be to contribute to the standards deployed by the project, especially those relating to descriptions of access policies, building on some standards work already undertaken by this community.
Australian
Digital Theses Expansion & Redevelopment Program
To be led by the University of New South Wales in 2004, this project
will enhance the Australian Digital Theses service which provides access to
the higher degree theses of half of Australia’s universities.6 Retrospective
digitisation of some print-based theses will also occur.
In summary, the National Library is greatly looking forward to contributing its knowledge and expertise to the DEST projects as they take Australia’s information infrastructure forward in the 21st century.
|
For further information on
the National Library’s role in the projects, please contact
Debbie Campbell, Director, Coordination Support Branch email: dcampbel@nla.gov.au or telephone: (02) 6262 1673. |
1. $12 MILLION FOR MANAGING UNIVERSITY INFORMATION <http://www.dest.gov.au/Ministers/Media/McGauran/2003/10/mcg002221003.asp>.
2. The Final Report of the Higher Education Information Infrastructure Advisory Committee, Systemic Infrastructure Initiative, November 2002 <http://www.dest.gov.au/highered/otherpub/heiiac/exec_summary.htm>.
3. Australian Partnership for Advanced Computing, <http://www.apac.edu.au>.
4. DSpace, <http://www.dspace.org>
5. FEDORA, <http://www.fedora.info/>
6. ADT Program, <http://adt.caul.edu.au/>
| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: mbrooks@nla.gov.au