West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

The Robert Gordon University

Research and the Library Service

Dr. Susan CopelandSenior Information Adviser

s.copeland@rgu.ac.uk

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

Outline of presentation

• The Robert Gordon University– Geographical environment

– Academic environment

• RGU Library Support for Research

• RGU Library Research Projects

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

Statistics/Demographics

• Approx. 6800 Full time undergraduates• Approx. 1300 Full time postgraduates• Approx. 1400 part time undergraduates• Approx. 2800 part time postgraduates• Wide age range of students• Approx. 6300 UK, 700 EU and 1100 other international full time

students.• 56% of non-EU overseas students come from China, Taiwan,

India, Malaysia and Nigeria.• The reminder come from 86 other countries

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

The Academic Environment

• 18th century origins of RGU

• 1992 awarded university status

• 3 Faculties:– Faculty of Health and Social Care– Faculty of Design and Technology– Aberdeen Business School

• Subject Areas:– Applied Social Studies, Health Sciences, Life Sciences, Nursing &

Midwifery, Pharmacy– Computing, Engineering, Art, Architecture and Surveying– Accounting and Finance, Business Management, Communication and

Languages, Economics and Public Policy, Hotel, Tourism & Retail Management, Human Resource Management, Information Management, Law, Marketing

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

Committee Structure

• Board of Governors– Standing Committees: Audit Committee, Chairman’s Committee,

Estates and Buildings Committee, Finance Committee, Nominations Committee, Remuneration Committee, Staff and Student Affairs Committee, and the Staff Disciplinary Appeals Committee

• Academic Council– Standing Committees: Assessment Boards, Faculty Boards,

Honorary Degrees Committee, Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee, Research Committee, Research Degrees Committee, Student Academic Appeals Committee, and the Student Disciplinary Appeals Committee.

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

Library Support for Research

• Representation on the Research Committee, Research Degrees Committee and Research Student/Staff Liaison Sub Committee

• Provision of Services: User education (databases, referencing, software, etc), ILLs, reciprocal use of other university libraries, etc.

• Provision of information sources: increasingly electronic resources, teaching vs research needs, etc.

• Collaborative projects eg. NHS Scotland and Scottish Executive funded project with the School of Nursing and Midwifery

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

Library Research Projects

• E-measures

• LibQUAL+ surveys

• Small in-house user surveys

• Internal RDI funded projects

• JISC funded projects

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

The JISC ‘FAIR’ Programme (2002)Focus on Access to Institutional Resources

14 Projects in 3 clusters:

• Museums and Images• Institutional Portals• E-Prints and E-Theses

3 Projects are related to ETDs

• ‘Daedalus’ (The University of Glasgow)• ‘Theses Alive!’ (The University of Edinburgh)• ‘Electronic Theses’ (Consortium led by the Robert Gordon University)

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=programme_fair

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

University of London LibraryUniversity of London Library

Consortium Members

‘Electronic Theses’ project 2002 - 04

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

‘Electronic Theses’ ProjectAims and Timescale

Phase 1 (July 2002 – July 2004)

• “To evaluate a wide range of existing practices of e-theses production, management and use against a set of criteria in order to produce models for use within the UK information environment”.

Phase 2 (October 2003 – September 2004)

• To develop e-theses in a service environment – taking account of the needs of an independent repository and a broader Virtual Research Environment (VRE).

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

After the ‘FAIR’ program

ITT: UK HE e-theses Test-bed Project

A Project to Support e-theses for UK Higher Education

“Proposals are invited to undertake a test-bed implementation project to deliver an infrastructure to support the deposit, access and use of research theses for the UK Higher Education (HE) sector. “

http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=funding_etheses

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

‘EThOS’ (Electronic Theses Online Service) 2004 - 06

A CURL-BL Project to Support e-Theses for UK Higher Education

“The purpose of EThOS is to deliver, over a period of 18 months, a

fully operational, easily scaleable and financially viable prototype

UK e-theses online service, and supporting infrastructure, that will

enable end-users, via one single web interface, to access the full

text, in secure format, of electronically stored theses after a

selection from a UK Database of Theses (UKDoT).”

(Extract from the Ethos Project Proposal Executive Summary)

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

EThOS Project Consortium

• The University of Glasgow

• The British Library

• The National Library of Wales

• The University of Birmingham

• Cranfield University

• The University of Edinburgh

• The Robert Gordon University

• The University of Southampton

• The University of Warwick

• SHERPA (Consortium led by University of Nottingham)

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

EThOS project workpackages

• Project management• Central host & search interface• Harvesting data from institutions• Retrospective digitisation• IPR & permission• Toolkit for institutions• Business models• Dissemination and advocacy

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

Purpose of the toolkit

• To assist institutions to make theses available online

• To offer guidance on the alternative options for participating in EThOS

• To provide advice on the legal, cultural, technical, administrative and resource issues that need to be considered

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

RGU, EThOS, ACRL / STS / SBASM and WVU

• Initial liaison between Cranfield University and WVU

• WVU representation on the Association of College and Research Libraries, Science and Technology Section, Subject and Bibliographic Access to Science Materials Committee

• Cranfield University and RGU involvement in the ACRL / STS / SBASM project relating to electronic theses and dissertations

• ‘EThOS’ support for the above

• RGU / WVU liaison

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

Future Research

• Building on experience

• New areas

• Collaboration and partnerships

West Virginia University, 20th June 2006

Thank you for Listening