Open Access and Search4Dev - Harry Heemskerk - KIT

Open Archives Initiative:
A model for development data?
Harry Heemskerk, Royal Tropical Institute (KIT)

Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl
WARNING!
This presentation is not about data.

In this presentation . . .
 What are the issues
 Open Archives Initiative (OAI)
 Repositories in Africa
 Search4Dev: repository for NL development sector
 OAI: a model for development data?

The issues
• Digital resources need to appear at many sites, but:
o Storage at multiple locations is inefficient and error-
prone
o Multiple instances of metadata are inefficient and
often inconsistent
• Search engines do not use metadata optimally
• Digital resources get lost
• Identifiers to digital resources are not persistent

Open Archives Initiative (OAI)
• Initiated by Van de Sompel and others in 2000
• Builds on Open Access initiatives in the 1990’s
• Has since conquered Open Access publishing in the
academic world

The principles of OAI
a) Standardize metadata
b) Add metadata at the source
c) Store once, use many
d) Register evolving sets of resources,
not individual resources
e) Create interoperability

Metadata set:
the descriptors to identify and describe the resource
• Dublin Core Metadata Element Set (DCMES)
≈ minimum standard
• 15 elements without refinements
• each element optional and repeatable
• also known also know as “Simple Dublin Core”

Metadata exchange standard:
the digital format in which the metadata set is exchanged
Is defined as an XML schema
• Dublin Core based (simple)
o OMF
o PBCore
• MODS (intermediate)
• MARCXML (complex)
• METS (object hierarchies)
• MPEG-21 DIDL (complex digital objects)
• . . .

b) Add metadata at the source
Metadata should be added close
to the creation of the resource.
(Possibly by the author him/herself => self-archiving)
Why?
• Creator knows best
• Consistent
• Efficient

Publication
database
Research
database
Website
Users
Data and
services

Topical
website
Harvester
Institutional
repositoryI
Institutional
repositoryIII
Institutional
repositoryII
Institutional
repositoryIV
Data layer
Users
Service
layer
Publication
database
Research
database
Website

Data layer = Repositories
Service layer = Harvesters
Repositories and harvesters

Various types of repositories
• Institutional repository
• Multi-institutional repository
• Aggregating repository
• Governmental repository
• Disciplinary repository
• Subject repository
• . . .

Various types of repositories
• May be very large or very small
• May be rapidly expanding or rather stable
• May store different kinds of content
• May use varying database systems
• May run on all kinds of platforms
• . . .

Various types of harvesters
• General search engine
• Subject portal
• Electronic sourcebook
• Electronic journal
• . . .

About registries of repositories
Register sets of resources, not individual resources.
Examples of registries of repositories:
• Registry of Open Access Repositories - ROAR
• Directory of Open Access Repositories - OpenDOAR
• The Open Archives Initiative
• The OAI registry at University of Illinois
• Openarchives.eu

d) Create operability
Communication protocol:
question-and-answer language between repository and harvester
• OAI-PMH
Open Archives Initiative - Protocol for Metadata Harvesting

Examples of OAI-PMH conversation
Q: identify – who are you?
A: I am the service www.university.edu and my oldest
record is from 2001
Q: listmetadata – what are the metadataformats that you
can supply?
A: I can supply my metadata in DC and DIDL
Q: listsets – which sets of information do you have ?
A: I have a set of Humanities and a set of Biology records

Examples of OAI-PMH conversation
Q: listidentifiers – Give me the headers of the records that
were published after 1-1-2010
A: Here are the headers of the records requested
Q: listrecords – Give me details of the records of the records
that were published after 1-1-2010
A: Here is a list of records
Q: getrecords – Give me a specific record
A: Here are all the fields of this specific record

Volume of OAI-compliant repositories
Source: OpenDOAR, May 11, 2011

Content of OAI-compliant repositories

√
√

Repositories in Africa

Repositories in Africa
Source: ROAR, May 11, 2011

KIT’s activities 1: supporting IRs

KIT’s activities 2: DATAD III
Database of African Theses and Dissertations
Under the responsibility of the
Association of African Universities (AAU)
DATAD I: online catalogue of bibliograhic metadata
DATAD II: catalogue with partial access to full text
DATAD III: harvester in a network of institutional repositories

KIT’s activities 3: toolkit
Toolkit for implementing
institutional repositories in Africa
1. Publication of toolkit in autumn 2011
2. Development of training modules
3. Setting up an online community of practice

KIT’s activities
Finally:
There is more than strictly Open Acess
Partnership with Elsevier Publishers to provide free
access to some of Elsevier’s commercial databases for
150 academic and research institutions in Africa

√
√
√

Search4Dev
• Inspired by Research4Development in the UK
• Initiated by Development Policy Review Network (DPRN)
• Implemented by KIT
• Launched in December 2008

Web interface
Search4Dev
. . .
Academic institutions
IR 1 IR 2 IR 2 IR x
Portal Dutch
Development
Cooperation
Research-
ers
Research-
ers
Policy
makers
Policy
makers
Practitio-
ners
Practitio-
ners
OAI-PMH
harvesters
Search4Dev
repository
NGOs., Ministry, etc.

Search4Dev: current status
• 32 participating NGOs

Participants
• AWEPA - Association of European
Parliamentarians with Africa
• Bernard van Leer Foundation
• Both ENDS
• Cordaid
• DCA-VET - Dutch Committee for Afghanistan -
Veterinary Programmes
• DPRN - Development Policy Review Network
• Euroconsult/BMB Mott MacDonald
• Hivos – Humanist Institute for Development
Cooperation
• ICCO - Interchurch Organization for
Development Cooperation
• IICD - International Institute for
Communication and Development
• IKV Pax Christi
• IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands
• KIT - Royal Tropical Institute
• Knowledge Centre Religion and Development
• MVO Platform
• NCDO - National Committee for International
Cooperation and Sustainable Development
• Oxfam Novib
• Partos
• PharmAccess Foundation
• Plan Nederland
• PSO - Capacity Building in Developing
Countries
• SNV - Netherlands Development
Organisation
• SOMO - Centre for Research on
Multinational Corporations
• Spanda Foundation
• Stichting Oikos
• The Broker
• VSO - Voluntary Service Overseas
• WECF – Women in Europe for a
Common Future
• Wemos Foundation
• Woord en Daad
• Worldconnectors

• 32 participating NGOs
• 2.300 titles
• About 1.000 titles added per year
• Full set of metadata added
• Storage format standardized

• Usage still low . . . but growing
• Substantial usage from outside the Netherlands
• Growing number of harvesters
o BASE – Bielefeld Academic Search Engine
o Connecting-Africa
o NARCIS
o OAIster
o OpenDOAR – Directory of Open Access Repositories
o ROAR – Registry of Open Access Repositories

Search4Dev: lessons learned
• Everybody supports the idea
• . . . but not everybody puts in the effort
• Initial enthusiasm may fade
• Acquisition requires persuasion and persistence
• Crucial to have dedicated contact persons
• Legal agreement must precede publication

Search4Dev: lessons learned
Without a strong partner in the service layer
Search4Dev will not reach its full potential.

√
√
√
√

WARNING!
This presentation is not about data.
Or is it?

Does the Open Archive Initiative
provide a model for sharing
open development data?

Thank youThank you

Open Access and Search4Dev - Harry Heemskerk - KIT

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