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"The Realities of Research Data Management" is a four-part series that explores how research universities are addressing the challenge of managing research data throughout the research lifecycle. The series examines the context, influences, and choices higher education institutions face in building or acquiring research data management (RDM) capacity--in other words, the infrastructure, services, and other resources needed to support emerging data management practices. Findings are based on case studies of four institutions: University of Edinburgh (UK), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (US), Monash University (Australia), and Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands). This final report of the series examines the "sourcing and scaling" choices made by the four research universities regarding their acquisition of RDM capacity. The choices that individual institutions make with respect to sourcing and scaling likely depend on a host of factors, including local staffing and infrastructure, availability of cooperatively sourced or nationally provisioned services, and willingness to pay for commercially sourced solutions. The report concludes with some general insights about sourcing and scaling RDM services that emerge from the case studies. While each of the four case studies partners pursued a different strategy, there are trends that span the institutions, including: curation services are the most likely to be externalized education and expertise services are largely local in scale. Sourcing and scaling RDM changes to fit institutional needs. [For Part One, see ED589133. For Part Two, see ED589134. For Part Three, see ED589137. For the Supplemental, see ED589139.]

"The Realities of Research Data Management" is a four-part series that explores how research universities are addressing the challenge of managing research data throughout the research lifecycle. The series examines the context, influences, and choices higher education institutions face in building or acquiring research data management (RDM) capacity--in other words, the infrastructure, services, and other resources needed to support emerging data management practices. Findings are based on case studies of four institutions: University of Edinburgh (UK), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (US), Monash University (Australia), and Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands). In this third report in the series, the authors explore the incentives that inspired the acquisition of RDM capacity on the part of the four research universities described in the case studies and describe both the general patterns and context-dependent circumstances that shaped these incentives. Based on the case studies, as well as the broader RDM landscape, the authors organized these incentives into four broad categories: compliance, evolving scholarly norms, institutional strategy, and researcher demand. Key takeaways include: (1) University investment in research data management infrastructure, services, or personnel is motivated by locally relevant incentives; (2) Case study partners acted to establish RDM services in anticipation of, rather than in direct response to, researcher demand and explicit policy mandates; (3) Researcher demand and compliance with policy mandates were important factors in re-shaping and sustaining the RDM service bundle over time, but were not the key drivers for establishing RDM services in the case study institutions; (4) While the constellation of relevant incentives differs from one context to another, the acquisition or development of local RDM capacity is invariably motivated by an interest in protecting or enhancing institutional reputation and success; and (5) Consequently, the long-term sustainability of university RDM services is contingent upon alignment with institutional needs, as much as individual researcher needs. [For Part One, see ED589133. For Part Two, see ED589134. For Part Four, see ED589138. For the Supplemental, see ED589139.]

The service profiles presented here were reviewed and confirmed by staff at Edinburgh University, Monash University, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Wageningen University & Research. The profiles are descriptive inventories, with brief observations about the scope, organization and staffing of RDM [research data management] services in these universities, prefaced with some remarks about the national context in which university RDM offer is embedded. The compilation of profiles is published by OCLC Research as supplementary, supporting material for The Realities of Research Data Management report series. [For Part One, see ED589133. For Part Two, see ED589134. For Part Three, see ED589137. For Part Four, see ED589138.]

"The Realities of Research Data Management" is a series of four reports looking at the context, influences and choices research universities face in building or acquiring research data management (RDM) capacity. The findings are derived from detailed case studies of four research universities, hailing from four distinct national contexts: the University of Edinburgh (UK), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (US), Monash University (Australia), and Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands). This report looks at the RDM service bundles of the four universities to better understand how the local RDM service bundle is shaped by the complex interplay of internal and external factors, institutional requirements, and local choices. In reviewing the experiences of the four case study institutions, a common theme emerged: RDM is not a monolithic set of services duplicated across universities; it is a customized solution shaped by a range of internal and external factors operating on local decision-making. An important corollary to this finding is that scoping an RDM service bundle sufficient to meet institutional needs does not necessarily mean implementing the full range of services within the RDM service space. This report explores these findings in the context of the case study partners, examining how each university scoped their local RDM service bundle in light of each institution's broader institutional and external environments. In each case, the choices made--and the resulting RDM service bundle--reflect the particular circumstances of the university in question. While each university is unique, other institutions may see something of themselves in one or more of the universities examined, and the case studies may serve as models or patterns to inform local RDM planning in other contexts. [For Part One, see ED589133. For Part Three, see ED589137. For Part Four, see ED589138. For the Supplemental, see ED589139.]

Research data management (RDM) has emerged as an area of keen interest in higher education, leading to considerable investment in services, resources and infrastructure to support researchers' data management needs. This is the first in a series of reports by OCLC Research which examines the context, influences and choices higher education institutions face in building or acquiring RDM capacity--in other words, the infrastructure, services and other resources needed to support emerging data management practices. Our findings are derived from detailed case studies of four research universities, hailing from four distinct national contexts: the University of Edinburgh (UK), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (US), Monash University (Australia) and Wageningen University & Research (the Netherlands). In this introductory report, we provide some brief background on the emergence of RDM as a focus for research support services within higher education; present a simple framework for navigating the contours of the RDM service space; describe the methodology we employed for assembling our findings and discuss the key elements of RDM capacity acquisition these findings address; and offer a preview of the next report in the series. [For Part Two, see ED589134. For Part Three, see ED589137. For Part Four, see ED589138. For the Supplemental, see ED589139.]

Following the extended Australian drought of the 1990s, a review was undertaken to assess the programs and services that support farm families and respond to their welfare needs. A total of 43 service providers and 21 farm families were interviewed in New South Wales and Queensland. Following an introduction and description of methodology, the third section of this report summarizes support services and assistance for farm families provided by federal, state, and private agencies. Programs and services covered financial support for farmers during exceptional circumstances, grants for training in agricultural and business skills, family counseling services, legal services, social security and welfare services, youth services, education and training, health services, and information services. Educational services included allowances for secondary students living away from home, grants to train farm employees, health promotion and education, training of rural health workers, and vocational training and guidance. The fourth section examines families' service-related experiences and preferences, including reasons for seeking assistance, use of charity and unofficial sources of assistance, sources and use of information by farm families, awareness of and access to services, extent of service usage and acceptability, barriers to farm families seeking assistance, training needs of service providers, agency cooperation, self-help groups, community networks, services for farmers leaving farming, attitudes toward support, gaps in services, and use of counseling services. Appendices present interview schedules and a literature review on the stresses experienced by farm families. (Contains 50 references.) (SV)

Digital reference services at university libraries in Australia and New Zealand are a recent phenomena dating back to the late 1990s--following the developments in Web-based online library services. This paper examines the move towards the provision of e-mail reference services based on the study of 16 randomly chosen university libraries in Australia and 4 in New Zealand. The Web sites of these 20 university libraries were analyzed. This paper presents findings for each of the following questions posed by the study: (1) How accessible is the e-mail reference service on the library's homepage? (2) Are the parameters of the e-mail reference service fully explained in terms of types of questions handled and the maximum response time? (3) Are the guidelines of privacy or confidentiality spelled out? (4) Is there a feedback facility evaluating or commenting on this service's effectiveness? (5) Who can access the e-mail reference service? For example, is the service extended to users in the community? (6) What information is required from users of this service? (7) How useful is the design of the e-mail reference form for conducting a successful reference answering service? Further steps are also discussed. (Contains 26 references.) (AEF)

This paper explores the issues and opportunities for information providers in a digital environment where the skills of management of change and leadership are necessary to create vital and healthy organizations. The first section discusses challenges of the digital environment and skills for the information profession, including the impact of technology, the changing role of the library, and core skills for library staff (e.g., management, information technology, teamwork, strategic thinking, and customer service skills). The second section describes how the State Library of Victoria (Australia) is addressing these challenges with staff and management development programs, including: (1) staff workshops on information service values related to customers, knowledge, teamwork, collections, and environment; (2) staff, leadership, and management training focusing on communication/interpersonal, marketing/promotion, technology self/team management, change management, problem-solving, mission/vision/values, and task-specific skills, as well as five leadership values (self-awareness, stands in the future, customer focus, collaborative spirit, and bias for action); and (3) management development training developed in collaboration with the University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University. The third section covers ways of thinking about organizations and managers, including organizations as many things at once and the roles of managers and leaders. (Contains 17 references.) (MES)

This paper focuses on the development, adoption, and integration of resource discovery, knowledge management, and/or knowledge sharing interfaces such as interactive portals, and the use of the library's World Wide Web presence to increase the availability and usability of information services. The introduction addresses changes in library services due to information technology and summarizes the three basic functions that comprise the knowledge mediation function of the library. The first section discusses portals as an access tool and lists several types of portals, i.e., Consumer Portals, Vertical or Niche Portals, Affinity Portals, Horizontal Portals, Enterprise Resource or Corporate Portals, and B2B or Industry Portals. The second section addresses knowledge management, including trends that play a significant role in the current knowledge economy. The third section discusses the evolution of the library Web site to portal. The fourth section describes the portal development program at the Australian National University for Scholarly Information, including examples of library portals and a schematic representation of the database structure. The final section considers future challenges. (Contains 12 references.) (MES)

This paper provides an overview of the forces shaping the future of the knowledge economy and society, including: the speed and type of change that is occurring; the technologies that are propelling it; the technology and information choices that competitors are making; which organizations are in the lead; who has the most to gain and to lose; the investment strategies of competitors vis-a-vis the trends; and the variety of ways these trends may influence customers' demands and needs. The characteristics of a global information economy and society are identified, focusing on the four building blocks of infrastructure provision, lifelong learning, economic growth, and service delivery. National strategies for Singapore, the European Union, and Australia are considered, as is the role of libraries and information services in the global information economy and society. (MES)

The main objective of this research was to develop a suitable model for a Thai university library in information provision to tenant firms in the first Thai technology park. Such a model, which was based on Australian data, was fine-tuned to meet local Thai social and economic conditions. The research process investigated many issues with tenants in five Australian technology parks, including information needs, information use, information seeking behavior, information perception, librarian roles, and characteristics of required information services; the library information services that are already offered to tenant firms by Australian university libraries were also evaluated. The proposed Thai model encompassed five major library activities--policies, collection development, information services, staffing, and promotion and marketing. In Australia, there were three sub-sample groups taken into account: company staff members in five Australian technology parks; the technology park managers; and librarians in Australian university libraries that have formal links with the technology parks. In Thailand, the sample group for a preliminary testing of the proposed model comprised top management personnel of King Mongkut's University of Technology, whose technology park is in the process of establishment, and of three university libraries and one public library involved in information provision. The research methodology was structured interviews with checklist questionnaires. (Contains 15 references.) (MES)

In December 1996 UNESCO commissioned the Australian Broadcasting Authority to conduct a pilot study which considered a range of online issues; this report outlines the findings of the pilot study, based on data collected between February and May 1997 and updated in July 1997. The objective is to identify the main types of Internet content which may be considered illegal in the countries in the pilot study, along with the Internet content which, while legal, may be unsuitable or harmful for children. The four countries selected for the study were Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. The report is divided into two parts. Part 1 provides an overview of the nature of the online environment and some of its important features; identifies some of the issues arising in the online services; and also identifies some of the technical developments which enable parents and supervisors to protect children from harmful or unsuitable material in the online environment. Part 2 provides a comparison and an overview of the four countries in the study, presenting a context for the subsequent discussion; identifies some of the approaches being taken in the four countries in response to the Internet; and presents some comparative data collected on some of the issues raised in Part 1. Appendices include a list of contributors; services available online; acronyms and abbreviations; and useful Web resources. (AEF)

RVIB (Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind) Library & Information Services is one of five business units of RVIB, an agency that has been providing services since 1866 to people in Victoria (Australia) who are blind or visually impaired. RVIB Library & Information Services offers four core services: (1) a public library service that includes collections of audio and Braille books, e-text books, audio magazines, newspapers, and audio described videos; (2) a reference and research service for people with print disabilities and RVIB staff; (3) a student and vocational support service that provides curriculum materials to support students at all levels, those in the workforce, and others with particular and urgent information needs; and (4) a special transcription service that produces personal and ephemeral materials in the format of choice. Services specifically designed to support children include materials for children, activities for children, the Partners Program that enables people with print disabilities of all age groups to access information and reading materials through their local public library, and student support services. RVIB has recently renewed its commitment to the provision of materials in Braille through the adoption of recommendations of a committee to evaluate its provision of services and materials to Braille readers, both children and adults. (MES)

In 1998, the EdNA/CESCEO Schools Advisory Group (SAG) formed the Networked Learning Resources Working Group to investigate issues surrounding the provision, optimum integration and management of Australian digital learning resources. The Working Group contracted DSTC Pty Ltd, in conjunction with the services of an independent specialist in schools information services, to conduct this consultancy and prepare this discussion paper. The aim of the discussion paper is to: (1) identify current and planned approaches to organizing, accessing, delivering and sharing networked learning resources within the education and cultural sectors; (2) identify opportunities for improving these systems; (3) describe implications of emerging initiatives and possible system improvements for the Schools Advisory Group stakeholders and the broader education community; and (4) make recommendations for common technical approaches amongst the SAG stakeholders in relation to information management techniques. The report first describes the methodology, scope, assumptions and limitations. It then analyzes the use of networked learning resources and makes recommendations for improving technologies and processes associated with accessing and producing networked learning resources in Australian schools. An overview is provided of important networked learning initiatives and technologies from the education, cultural, government, and information technology sectors. The appendices contain a glossary of terms and abbreviations, the survey document, a list of people and organizations consulted, a summary of response to the survey, and a list of current and planned Australian networked learning initiatives as identified by the survey. (Contains 27 references.) (AEF)

The conference recorded in this document covered a wide variety of themes and consisted of keynote addresses, research presentations, and workshops. The following keynote addresses are included: "Technician Training: A New Zealand Perspective" (Wood); and "The Provision of Information Services in Vocational Education: The Present and the Future" (Lee). The following research presentations are included: "Responding to Diversity: Learning Styles in Vocational Education" (Andrews); "The Future for Vocational and Technical Education" (Strong); "Alternative Approaches to Vocational Education--The Malaysian Experience" (Saleh); "Recent Initiatives in Staff Development in Vocational Education in Scotland" (Niven); and "Vocational Education: An International Perspective" (Hickey). The following workshop presentations are included: "Teaching Learning Skills as a Foundation for Technical Training" (Nelson); "Approaches to Instructional Strategies for an Information-Based Society" (Ross); "Socialization and Cognitive Process in the Appropriation of Technical-Scientific Knowledge and Practical Abilities in Vocational High School" (Hardy); "An Experimental Study of Incorporating Creative and Inventive Concepts into Vocational High School Curricula" (Wu); "Teaching and Learning in TAFE: Does TAFE Sell Its Students Short?" (Gove); "Vocational Qualification and Access to Higher Education" (Smithers); "Competency Tests: Their Role in Selection of Apprentice and Trainee Technical Officers in Australia" (Holdgate); "Development and Analysis of a Criterion-Referenced Test Item Bank" (Hinton); "Follow-up Studies of Vocational and Technical Education Graduates Using State Databases" (Strong); "Analysis of a Programme of Electromechanics of Automated Systems in Terms of Underlying Physical Concepts and Principles" (Gagnon); "Fast Track Apprenticeships and Multi-Skilling: Can We Have the Best of Both Worlds?" (Thomas); "Collecting Case Studies in TAFE Curriculum: Some Problems" (McBeath); "Teacher Motivation in Vocational Education: Causes and Consequences" (Nyberg); "Vocational Teacher Education: Research into Practice" (Prichard); "Evaluation of the In-Service Education Ordinance and Programs for Industrial Vocational Teachers in the Republic of China" (Shieh); "Apprentices Literacy Skills" (Sofo); "Regional Colleges: Resource Sharing between Vocational Education and Higher Education" (Atkinson); "Student Withdrawal from Part-Time Courses of Further Education" (Parkin); and "Improving the Quality of Vocational Education" (Jain). (CML)

An initial survey of medical information resources in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria, Australia, reveals a lack of adequate collections, insufficiently trained staff, few formal lines of communication between service providers, and paucity of mechanisms to ensure user awareness of available services. Detailed proposals are provided for six pilot studies intended to provide more extensive information to guide regional medical information resource planning in Australia. Studies proposed are (1) information flow in hospitals, (2) core collections for Australian hospital libraries, (3) design for a course for hospital library clientele, (4) design for a course for untrained hospital library staff, (5) experimental regional inter-library loan center, and (6) experimental regional information unit. The bibliography contains 90 items related to medical information services planning. (STS)

The major objectives of this study of the private sector segment of the information industry in New South Wales, Australia, were to identify and categorize the information enterprises, and to provide a basis for the development of a broad model of the information transfer process. A non-random survey of information organizations was made, and the printed materials provided by the organizations were analyzed. Profiles were made of each of the 80 responding organizations that fit the "information enterprise" definition, although the organizations are identified by fictitious names. Information enterprises were then categorized into two major groupings--information management enterprises and information service enterprises--and categorized in sub-groupings within the two major groupings. A table was developed to summarize the services provided by both types of enterprises, and a model of the information transfer process was developed to relate the information enterprises and their activities to the wider information transfer process. The model is also provided in diagram form, and a 44-item reference list is provided. Six appendixes contain background material, a copy of the letter to organizations requesting information for the study, a list of organizations arranged in categories, and a list of the names and addresses of organizations that participated in the study. (EW)

This evaluation project presents a plan for a program to establish a clearinghouse for exchanging qualitative and quantitative data on instructional materials used in Australian schools. A range of elements necessary to plan a program suited to Australian requirements and conditions was investigated. Focus was on: the program's mission, capability, and setting; its management; its personnel; its coordination and balance; its research activities; its development activities; its potential for relationships with other institutions, agencies and organizations; its schedule; its facilities; its funding; and its product dissemination. The conclusion presents educational authorities with a set of recommendations for action. A bibliography, five appendices, and a glossary are included. (SI)

Surveys literature relevant to study of University/TAFE (Technology and Further Education) joint-use libraries, revealing: recommendations for single line management; full integration of services and resources and need for broad guidelines for operation; indications of client and economic benefits; and concerns about service compromises. The Australian Information and Library Association has called for wide discussion of the issues in relation to its "Statement on Joint-Use Libraries." (Author)

Discusses the role of university libraries in creating a national library and information service and concludes with an 11-point plan to help maximize the use of university library resources by scientists and scholars throughout Australia. Highlights include the role of national libraries and future patterns for teaching and research. (Author/LRW)