Shared Services Partnerships
The SCURL Shared Services DSpace repository partnership took over from the Scottish Digital Library Consortium Repository Group in 2018. This was followed by the introduction of the SCURL Shared Services journal and monograph hosting service later in 2018, initially to incorporate three external journals already hosted at the University of Edinburgh.
The shared service structure was established over 15 years ago for the mutual benefit of SCURL member libraries. Partners benefit from the infrastructure and the expertise of developers at the University of Edinburgh. The service offers a supported hosting platform for their repository, journal, or monograph, as well as access to support and technical expertise which may not be available in their own institution.
The shared services operate on a not-for-profit basis and the income generated is used to benefit all partners through further development of services.
The University of Edinburgh hosts regular meetings of the partnerships to share knowledge, experience and expertise across participating institutions. SCURL members who are interested in exploring shared service options through the partnership should use the contact form in the first instance.
Repository Partnership
The repository software used in the partnership is DSpace. Each partner has a test and live instance of their DSpace repository hosted, maintained and secured within the University of Edinburgh’s infrastructure.
There are currently six partner repositories:
Heriot-Watt University ROS Theses Repository
The Research Scotland Consortium Research Scotland Repository
St Andrews University St Andrews Research Repository
The University of Aberdeen Aberdeen University Research Archive
The University of Edinburgh Edinburgh Research Archive
Queen Margaret University QMU Repositories
The partners meet up three or four times a year to discuss priorities for development requests. Each partner has an allocation of support and development time covered by their hosting fee. The time needed for development requests that benefit multiple partners can be shared across those partners.
Recent developments/extensions to DSpace include the integration of Orcid IDs, DOI minting from specific collections within DSpace, Altmetrics integration, REF reporting for institutions that don’t have a separate CRIS, and more.
The standard hosting charge for a DSpace instance is £10,567.50 + VAT which includes 25 days of development and support, covering upgrades, memberships, handle server charges and administration. Partners who have a PURE connector in place are charged an extra 10 days of support and development. Partners who use more than the pre-allocated storage of 50GBs are charged at the standard rates by the University of Edinburgh Infrastructure team. Any development requirements that exceed the pre-allocated support and development time is charged at a daily rate of £350 + VAT.
The income generated from the hosting charges covers the salary of a dedicated repository developer within the Development and Systems team at the University of Edinburgh, as well as any shared costs that can be spread across the partnership such as the shared Lyrasis DuraSpace membership.
Journals and Monograph Partnership
The journal software used is Open Journal Systems (OJS) and the monograph software is Open Monograph Press (OMP), both from the Public Knowledge Project. The annual hosting fee for each partner covers upgrade and maintenance and 1.5 days of development time over the year. Similar to the repository partnership, partners can agree to collaborate to use their pre-allocated development time. Development time is charged to the Development and Systems team at the University of Edinburgh to cover the resource costs.
There are currently eight partners in the journal and monograph partnership:
Digital Curation Centre International Journal of Digital Curation
Heriot-Watt University Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Equality and Diversity
Robert Gordon University Journals @ RGU
Royal Botanic Gardens Sibbaldia: The International Journal Of Botanic Garden Horticulture
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland Journals - Society of Antiquaries of Scotland SOAS Open Access E-Books
St Andrews University University of St Andrews Journal Hosting Service (currently moving across)
The University of Edinburgh UoE Journal Hosting Service
The University of Highlands and Islands Coming soon, OJS and OMP
The current hosting charge for an OJS or OMP instance is £1,400 + VAT per year. This charge covers the infrastructure costs and support and development staff time required. The partners meet up two or three times a year.