The Welsh Repository Network (WRN) Enhancement Project is looking to sustain and build upon the technical infrastructure and support network established between all twelve Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) within Wales during the WRN Start-Up project (http://whelf.ac.uk/wrn/index.shtml).
The Director of this new WRN project is Bill Hines, Assistant Director (Library Services) at Aberystwyth University. Jackie Knowles will take the role of Project Manager, and will be supported by Hannah Payne as Repository Support Officer (Organisational) and a yet to be recruited Technical Support Officer.
Within the WRN Start-Up Project support was delivered face- to- face through quarterly site visits and via e-mail and telephone support. Within the Enhancement Project we are looking to continue to provide support through these methods as well as by providing support through Web 2.0 technologies such as live chat via an interactive support website. The project team will also create and deliver via this website a range of interactive learning tools including mini tutorials, news feeds, and online demonstrations allowing WRN partners to utilise these materials in their own time.
Within this project we will also be exploring the idea of a centralised mediated deposit service for the WRN. It is hoped that provision of such a service by project staff will determine whether outsourcing item record creation enhances the rate of material being deposited within a repository; and whether the concept of remote mediation results in a successful workflow which embeds into the culture and policy framework of institutions.
The project team will look to work with WRN partners and other JISC repository projects to build and implement a variety of tools and services to develop and enhance repository infrastructure and usage. The following key areas for development have been identified: Workflow; Import/Export of metadata; Repository management; User experience. Based on feedback from WRN partners we will develop those tools and services which have been identified as the priority enhancements to their repositories.
The last element of this project will look to develop a thesis harvesting service within the National Library of Wales (NLW) providing a central hub and searchable interface for theses produced within the HEIs of the WRN. Working in liaison with the British Library’s EThOS project, the NLW will be the national point for providing Welsh e-theses content for the EThOS repository.
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