Heart Vs Head
CRIS management across
a Library and Research
Office
Research
Policy
Office
What are the Roles of a Library/Research Office – (10mins):
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What is a CRIS anyway!
• It isn’t
• the National Register for UK caravan keepers
CRIS - Current Research Information System
A web based system for recording
research activity:
• Research outputs – publications, data, software etc
• Activities – talks, conferences, panel memberships,
prizes etc
• Impact – narratives, evidence and contacts
Central Units
Linked to Central data :
CRIS
• Supervision
• Research funding awarded
• Contract details
Publicly visible profile
• a personal profile page
• CV
• ORCID
Researchers
Repository
Portal
A service to support many needs
For Researchers:
• Single point solution for
recording research outcome
• Corporate profile
• CV
• Notebook for impact
For Managers:
• Monitor research activity
• Report on individuals/units
• Resource for finding out who’s
doing what
For Institutions:
• Dynamic view of research
activity
• Reportable at all levels
• Publicity for Research at their
institution
Institution
Managers
Researchers
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A service with content supported by many stakeholders
Benefits:
• The ability to incorporate a
number of information sources.
• Provides an overview of the
whole research content
• Makes reporting across units
easier
Challenges:
• Requires ongoing maintenance
to ensure communication
through a network of different
systems
• stakeholders needs can clash
with each other
• Data restructuring at source
can cause issues for preserving
legacy info
HR
Registry
Finance
CRIS
Research
Staff and
Students
Library /
IT
Principals
Office
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Balancing Customer Demands
Researchers want a
system that is :
• an easy to use
• low admin burden
• Interoperable with existing
systems (internal and External)
• Customisable
The institution wants :
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Easy reporting
Complete content
Administrative oversight
A corporate coherent identity
A minable archive
And much more…
Balancing Customer Demands
Users can often view the system and it’s support very differently depending on how its
being used
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Responsive to users
Supporting individual needs
Making things work
Giving a platform
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Ignoring personal requirements
Enforcing policy
Making demands
Forcing a restrictive view
Making sure both the day to day running and the institutional needs are met requires
oversight on both sides.
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Our History
Launched in 2010:
• Implementation managed by Research Policy
office and University Data Architect (based in IT)
• 1 System Administrator based in the Research
Policy office
• Helpdesk
• Training
• Documentation
• Upgrades and system support
• Ad hoc IT support for technical issues
• 2 library staff
• 1 on publication data (100%)
• 1 on repository (40%)
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University of St Andrews
Our CRIS system PURE:
• Over 1700 staff
• approx. 1200 PGR
students
• Across 114 schools,
depts., centres and
groups
Syncing data from:
• Registry
• Human resources
• Finance
The highly interconnected nature of the system makes it a hub for a lot of data and as
such makes it’s research admin team a hub for a lot of requests/enquiries.
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Managing growth in both content and demand
Publication information dominates the system:
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Breakout Groups discussion – (15 mins):
Using the lists we generated at the start of the session, who do you think has primary
ownership of the activity?
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Lending
Collections management
Journal subscriptions
E-books/journals
Publisher info
Open Access
Bibliometrics
Cataloguing
Liaison to other libraries
Study/meeting space
Café 
• For Students and Staff….
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Research Policy
REF
Compliance
Ethics
Strategic development
Funding
Knowledge exchange
Impact
Reporting/analysis
Benchmarking
Guidance
• For Staff…..
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Our Approach
Research Policy
Office
Library
Strategic direction
User support/helpdesk
REF developments and processes
Training and guidance materials
Upgrades and system maintenance
Citation Analysis
Bibliographic checking
Content policy
Public profiles
Open Access and Repository support
Data Deposit
What does the split bring
Benefits:
Research Policy Office
Library
• More time
• Direct control over system
• Less resource intensive
• Easy communication with admin
• Understanding of technical
issues no longer necessary
• Issues raised at Policy level
• Expert support for
publications/data
• Closer links to strategic decisions
• Established relationships
• Cross pollination of ideas and
good practise
• More resource
• Regular updates
• Cross pollination of ideas and
good practise
• Strategic oversight
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What does the split bring
Challenges:
Research Policy Office
Library
• Loss of detailed understanding
• Yet another system to look after
• Less direct control over system
• Increased resource
• Fitting into another's priorities
• Building awareness of change
• Time lag in reporting
• New demands
• Building awareness of change
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2017 Pure Team
Pure is now supported by:
• A Research Information Manager - 50/50 split role
• Bridging post between the research policy office and the library
And in the library by the Digital Research Team:
• A System Administrator
• Open Access Support team, includes repository support (4 staff)
• A web services developer and ad hoc IT support for technical issues (as required)
• Research Data team (2 staff)
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Being the bridge
Split management can feel like
But can enhance across unit communication
Being the bridge
Managing your units expectations
Like the user perception the bridge can have 2 different views of the supporting units
depending on the task in hand:
Research Policy Office:
Benefits
Challenges
• Strategic drivers
• Urgent/unexpected requests
• Higher profile
• Tight deadlines
• Bigger budget
• Inflexible requirements
• Authoritative voice
• Need unambiguous data
Being the bridge
Managing your units expectations
Library:
Benefits
Challenges
• Expert knowledge
• Different priorities
• Highly subject focused
• Narrower focus
• Able to spend time on
details
• Viewed as just publications
• Process driven
• Well known by users
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What works!
Works, for me anyway:
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Regular catch ups with both unit managers
Keeping a shared priorities list
Maintaining social link with both teams
Compartmentalising tasks where possible
2 physical locations
Taking a step back
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What doesn't!
Challenges
• Opposing agendas/instructions
• Regular catch ups with both unit managers
• Keeping up to date with all the issues
• 2 physical locations
• Seeing both sides
• Delivering an unpopular decision
• Managing your own priorities
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Open Access Case Study
Using REF to drive the OA message
The Library has been actively involved in Open Access advocacy for many years,
discussing multiple factors with researchers eg:
• funder compliance
• enhancing visibility of research
• underlying benefits to society
• practical steps: how to achieve OA in the current scholarly communications
environment
• what could change such as new publishing models
REF2021 OA Policy was a game-changer, and suddenly makes OA relevant to ALL
researchers
Open Access Case Study
Open Access is for life not just for REF
Starting a message with ‘To be eligible for REF’, could cause headaches:
• Risks linking Open Access too closely to ‘compliance
• What about staff and/or outputs outside the scope of the policy?
• Retired staff
• Students
• New staff(?) – depends on HEFCE decisions
• And ‘lesser’ articles that ‘won’t be submitted’,
• proceedings with ISBN
• articles from disciplines potentially not within a UoA being returned.
Typical researcher response: ‘this won’t be a REF piece, so I won’t bother’
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Open Access Case Study
Open Access is for life not just for REF
The benefits of OA should be natural and not driven by a tick-box approach
• Some disciplines have helped us ‘see the light’
• Articles in Medical Education
• unlikely to be REFable
• However the school sees this area as needing extra visibility
• The approach should reduce complexity, not add to it
• Allows us to badge our OA approach as being ‘inclusive’
• Uses existing system functionality
• Simple one size fits all message
• Institutionally supported and championed at Vice Principal level
• Ignores the floating compliance dates of the REF policy
• Act on acceptance in place since 1st April 2016
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Open Access Case Study
Open Access is for life not just for REF
So the message becomes:
‘Open Access is here! Make sure you are ready… “Act on
acceptance – deposit in Pure” [and in smaller text] … Make sure you are eligible
for the next REF
• Having Principals office support helps researchers accept it and it seems to
work.
• Enquiry handling is intensive but crucial to build on positive attitudes
and show we understand researcher perspectives
Twitter comment: “OA team is very helpful and efficient: OA is easy!”
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Key to success
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Keep it simple
Be consistent
Be vocal and visible
Get central support
Be prepared for lots of
questions
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Discussion Exercise – 15 mins
Your Task:
A new policy has been released requiring all REF eligible publications to feature at
least 1 penguin. Your Principal wants to ensure the all possible publications are
REF eligible which means making sure everyone cares about penguins
The library has a long held and successful seabird inclusion policy for publications
which it doesn’t want to dilute. This policy doesn’t limit the choice of bird.
How do you ensure penguins are prioritised without damaging or confusing the
existing seabird message?
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Want to find out more:
Jennifer Pritchard – Senior Research Information Manager
University of St Andrews
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01334 462 289
Research
Policy
Office