Ms. Irene Onyancha

Chief Librarian, Knowledge and Library Services Section (KLSS)Public Information and Knowledge Management Services Division United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Open Access Publishing: The ECA Institutional Repository

Unites NationsEconomic Commission of Africa

ECA

Context – ECA’s vision and programmes Open Access publishing at ECA Status of ECA publication before 2010Vision for the ECA PublicationsTowards the vision:

Defining ECA IR project

Implementing the ECA IR projectCustomization of the ECA IRPopulating the ECA IRAccessing ECA IR items and files

Use and Impact, challenges and solutionLessons Learnt & recommendationsOn-going developmentPublications & Conference poster

OverviewOverview

ECA

The Economic Commission of Africa:established 1958one of the UN Secretariat's five regional commissions 5 Sub-Regional Offices (SROs): Morocco, Niger, Rwanda, Zambia & Cameroon

to promote economic and social development, foster intra-regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa's development

to promote economic and social development, foster intra-regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa's development

ECA’s MandateECA’s Mandate

ECA

ECA’s knowledge is presented in: Flagship publicationsConference proceedings, Resolutions & Speeches Technical publications, policy briefs, mission reports, annual reports, working papers et. other grey literature Statistical dataGeospatial data

all which outline important research or decisions that have been made on the economic and social developmental aspects in Africa

Publishing at ECAPublishing at ECA

ECA

The status of ECA publications before 2009The status of ECA publications before 2009

Divisional Collections

Catalogued collection

Electronic copies

Staff computers

ECA Web sites

Library shelves

Library basement

ECA publications

ECA

Data Management

Data Management

ArchivalStorage

ArchivalStorage

Cataloguing interfaceCataloguing interface

CataloguingCataloguing

MetadataExport

MetadataExport

Dublin Core Unqualified

Dublin Core Unqualified

MARC21MARC21

Qualified DC/(AGRIS AP)

Qualified DC/(AGRIS AP)

Self-archivingSelf-archiving

IR Wiki

E-Collections

ODSODS

IR-Blog

ECA-HQ

Search EngineAccess interface

UN Depository Libraries

Vision for ECA publicationsVision for ECA publications

SRO-NA SRO-SA SRO-EASRO-WA

ECA

Data Management

Data Management

ArchivalStorage

ArchivalStorage

Cataloguing interfaceCataloguing interface

CataloguingCataloguing

MetadataExport

MetadataExport

Dublin Core Unqualified

Dublin Core Unqualified

MARC21MARC21

Qualified DC/(AGRIS AP)

Qualified DC/(AGRIS AP)

Self-archivingSelf-archiving

IR Wiki

E-Collections

ODSODS

IR-Blog

ECA-HQ

Search EngineAccess interface

UN Depository Libraries

Vision for ECA publicationsVision for ECA publications

SRO-NA SRO-SA SRO-EASRO-WA

ECA

Established in 2009:..is an electronic publishing means for collecting, managing and preserving the institutional memory of ECA. It offers timely dissemination of this wealth of knowledge outlining important socio- economic research and decisions made on Africa…

ECA IR

Highly customized to provide value added services 19, 0000 metadata records & 15,000 digital files Project on going

The ECA Institutional RepositoryThe ECA Institutional Repository

ECA

Defining the Institutional Repository ProjectProject documents: Concept note, proposal and Business PlanFunding

Preliminary activitiesSetting up a project teamRecruitment of project staff (20 Library Assistants)Contracting a Service provider for the IR platform development

Purchase of equipments Heavy duty scannersServers & ComputersStorage and Archival materials

Defining the ECA IR project: Critical activitiesDefining the ECA IR project: Critical activities

ECA

Defining workflowsCapturing of documents before 2009 and AfterBuild on project 2007 to catalogue Parliamentary documentsCollecting cataloging indexing & reviewing scanning Archiving

4 groups of Library assistant

Collection development Printed publicationsDigital collection

• digitally born & digitization

Online platform developmentSoftware selection & development of systems requirementReview of IR Open Source Software & comparative analysis @: http://www.rsp.ac.uk/

Implementing the ECA IR projectImplementing the ECA IR project

ECA

Customization: 1. Authority lists(Author, Conference, Geo codes etc.)

Customization of the ECA IRCustomization of the ECA IR

ECA

Customization: 2. Controlled vocabularies (UNBIS Thesaurus)

Customization of the ECA IR cont.Customization of the ECA IR cont.

ECA

Customization: 3. AGRIS AP Metadata

Customization of the ECA IR cont.Customization of the ECA IR cont.

AGRIS AP in DspaceMARC21-AGRIS AP Crosswalk

ECA

Customization: 4. Subject search: UNBIS SC & Thesaurus

Customization of the ECA IR cont.Customization of the ECA IR cont.

ECA

Customization: 5. User Performance Statistics

Customization of the ECA IR cont.Customization of the ECA IR cont.

ECA

Export and Import of MARC21 metadataA crosswalk between MARC21 and AGRIS AP (Qualified Dublin Core)Export file from HORIZON ILMS in MARC21 XML SchemaImport tool developed by @mire

Communities and Collections development12 communities and 21 collection based on the ECA’s work programme 1 community and 5 collections for ECA sub-regional offices

Uploading digital filesAll digital files saved with the accession number of the metadata recordsDspace submission workflow revision to allow imported records back into the Dspace workflow

Towards vision 2013: Populating the IR

ECA

The ECA IR @ http://repository.uneca.org

ECA

Searching Simple SearchAdvanced search using the AGRIS AP fieldsSubject search

BrowsingDspace out of the box features (title, date & Communities and collections Subject keyword browse (UNBIS thesaurus)Thematic collections of ECA conferences & Flagship publicationsDiscovery Feature: Dspace 1.8

HarvestingOAI-PMH (simple DC)Expose metadata using in many formats Simple DC and AGRIS AP, MODS, METS for specialized harvesters

Towards vision 2013: Accessing the IR items & files

ECA

The ECA IR: Use and impact

80,000 hits/month Top 10 countries include: USA, SA, Nigeria

ECA

Challenges of Access and UseChallenges of Access and Use

Difficulty in downloading documents esp. in AfricaConnectivity & bandwidth issues

Poor participation & access by ECA SROs at:Niamey, Rabat, Kigali, Zambia, Yaounde

Main ChallengesLack of skills at the SRO librariesInadequate infrastructure & lack of essential equipmentConnectivity/Bandwidth issues

ECA

Solution: Replication/Mirroring of ECA IRSolution: Replication/Mirroring of ECA IR

A pragmatic approach in increasing usage of the ECA IR in Africa

Replication/mirrorsOff-line synchronization

IR replication project to mirroring the ECA IR:

Initially at the 5 sub-regional officesPrototypes testedReplicates are ready for shipment to SROs

All institutions/Universities across Africa• “ECA IR in a Box” to be accessed off-Line

ECA

The timely availability of the project documents crucial in acquiring project funding; Level of funding determines the level implementation and sustainability;Availability of in-house expertise is very important

Facilitate customization & Avoid recurring expenses for external services

Services of an experienced service provider was central to the timely implementation of the project; Good planning and teamwork was very critical for the success of the project.Migration of data from existing systems to IR software i.e. DspaceUse of qualified Dublin Core metadata set for data input and harvesting from Dspace softwareIntegration of controlled vocabularies for data entry and value added services e.g. subject search & browse — towards “open linked data”Poor internet connectivity across Africa is a big challenge to access ECA IR resources --- IR replication & off-line synchronizationNeed to incorporate sustainability strategies in project planning

Lessons Learnt

ECA

On-going developmentsOn-going developmentsCompletion and adoption of deposition and related policiesProject on-going to ensure all ECA publications are accessedImplementation of the 5 replicates at the SROsDissemination strategy: All institutions & Universities across Africa

• “ECA IR in a Box” to be accessed off-LineDevelopment of a Multilingual Repository (En & Fr)\

Funds available Request for Proposal (RFP) being sent out Improved Statistics: country level statsMarketing/dissemination strategy:

ECA IR in a boxLinked to as many websites Google ranking

Continuity and disaster recovery – part of ECA IT strategy

ECA

Systematic collection, management, preservation and dissemination of ECA intellectual propertyAccessibility of ECA’s knowledge through a large number of sources (e.g. portals, aggregators and search engines);Greater visibility has increased the impact of ECA work in the continentA vast amount of information that was difficult to obtain will be freely accessible; Mirrors will facilitate better access across AfricaAn information resource for the ASKIA/AVLIN networks and other online portals for African content.

The benefits the ECA IR

ECA

Addressing institutional potential loss of records and knowledge in Africa: The case of the ECA institutional repository – A knowledge base on African socio-economic development. (September 2012), International Library and Information Review, Vol. 44, Issue 3, Pg. 115-180. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057231712000379Improving access to socio-economic knowledge in Africa: The ECA IR Replication Project. (2012), Presented at Berlin-10 Conference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7xOAhVFUYA

Publications & Conference Posters

ECA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS1. ECA SENIOR MANAGEMENT2. IR PROJECT STAFF3. KLSS STAFF

ECA

THANK YOU!!!