Geoffrey Harder
Associate University Librarian & Admin Director, DSC; Co-chair of CARL’s Open Repositories Working Group
Canadian Association of Research Libraries
This brief update will discuss the pace of progress being made by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) Open Repositories Working Group (ORWG), which came into existence in January 2018 with a charge to “work in collaboration with the Canadian repository community to define a strategic vision for repositories as well as helping to move the community forward around shared goals and objectives.” The update will include a status report outlining the participation of CARL libraries in OpenAIRE Advance in order to enable repository content of various types (including data) to be more easily discovered, used, and reported on (noting CARL’s significant achievement of gaining endorsement for this effort from Canada’s federal funding councils). Other highlights include: convening a productive “Advancing Open” community event for practitioners and managers of repositories; the production of a series of reports and recommendations in areas such as digital preservation and repository metrics; and a discussion of next steps, which include continuing to identify sustainable infrastructure and services (possibly consolidated) that consider local and national opportunities and risks.