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Bradford University Repository Project - BURP!

• Background to the Project
• BURP! aims and objectives
• Technical Architecture
• Bradford Scholars pilot installation
• Project Outputs
• Project Contacts

Background to the Project

Duration: March 2008 - March 2009

Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) from the Digital Repositories and Preservation Programme: Start-up and Enhancement Projects.

The University of Bradford currently have a number of digital repositories within the University but it does not have an Institutional Repository. The principal examples are E-Pository which hosts some learning objects and archival material for administration, and Virtual Scholars which uses the open source software DSpace to store postgraduate dissertations. There may also be various electronic collections of learning materials, bibliographic databases with and without full text supported within departments.

An institutional repository may be defined as a "set of services a university offers to the members of its community for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community members" (Lynch, 2003). It may also be described as a hub for collecting and preserving the intellectual output of an institution in digital form (Wikipedia, 2007).

BURP! Aims and Objectives

The aim of BURP! is to set up an open access digital institutional repository for Bradford's scholarly content in a variety of formats, including text, sound, images and film. The DSpace software will be used to pilot content from selected Schools.

Specific objectives include:

• Identify and review the existing collections of materials that will feature in the Repository
• Investigate the needs of academic Schools which a repository could meet and identify cultural issues that may act as a barrier for populating such a repository
• Establish the architecture of the repository and implement the technical solutions using DSpace
• Establish procedures for deposit with academic Schools, to include a deposit agreement
• Establish a modus operandi with publishers with regard to copyright issues, utilising work done elsewhere by SHERPA and RoMEO
• Establish and implement procedures for harvesting material already available at Schools
• Set up a trial with selected Schools
• Investigate integration with local Blackboard installation and Content Management System, as well as other JISC funded repository services.
• Produce documentation and training
• Devise and execute a project exit strategy and plan for institution-wide implementation

The Project will produce:

• A project plan and work packages
• Progress reports
• Quarterly JISC progress reports
• User requirements specification
• Policies and metadata profile(s)
• Repository with content from the pilot Schools
• Final report for JISC

Technical Architecture

The Repository at the University of Bradford  will use DSpace the open source repository software platform. DSpace will be used to capture the University's data in any format – in text, video, audio, and data. It will be used to index the content and distribute it over the web so users can search and retrieve the University's scholarly works. DSpace will also cater for preserving the deposited content in perpetuity. Building on this, and wherever possible using open standards, we aim to offer services to best suit our user needs for depositing, managing and accessing disparate collections of content.

Bradford Scholars pilot installation

The current installation is a pilot service developed by the Bradford University Repository Project – BURP! The JISC and the University of Bradford are jointly funding a year-long project in setting up an open access digital institutional repository. The live service is scheduled for Spring 2009 release.

Content for the pilot service is being collected from our early-adopter academic communities the School of Engineering, Design and Technology, the School of Informatics and the Division of Archaeological, Geographical and Environmental Sciences. The pilot Schools are taking part in the set up process and offer a selection of scholarly materials to populate the pilot repository.

Project Outputs

Project outputs will be made available through this page as they are created.

• Bradford Scholars - the University of Bradford online research archive
• Learning and Teaching Conference, Bradford, 3rd June 2008 - Poster (pdf version, 317KB)
• Repository Deposit Terms & Conditions (pdf version, 177KB)
• BURP! online survey results (pdf version, 141KB)
• BURP! interview results (pdf version, 269KB)
• BURP! piloter survey results (pdf version, 889KB), Word 2007 version, 17KB
• Repository service flier (pdf version, 350KB, Word 2007 version, 118KB)
• Report on the JISC-sponsored "Beyond Advocacy: A Bradford Master Class on Institutional Repositories" event (pdf version, 691KB, Word 2007 version, 116KB)
• Bradford Scholars Digital Preservation Policy (pdf version, 90KB, Word 2007 version, 120KB)
• Project final report (pdf version, 700KB, Word 2007 version, 319KB)

Project Contacts

Project Sponsor

Peter Ketley
JB Priestley Library
University of Bradford
p.m.ketley@bradford.ac.uk

Project Manager

Polly Dawes
JB Priestley Library
University of Bradford
p.j.dawes@bradford.ac.uk

Project Worker

Satu Nieminen
JB Priestley Library
University of Bradford
s.nieminen@bradford.ac.uk

BURP

• BURP! Homepage
• BURP! blog
• Links
• Policy Document

Tel: +44 (0)1274 233401
Fax: +44 (0)1274 233398
Content-Manager: lib-webadmin@bradford.ac.uk

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