Nominations are open for new members (2023-2026)

The Open Repositories Steering Committee (ORSC) is pleased to announce that we are opening nominations for standing members to join the OR Steering Committee.

ORSC manages the annual Open Repositories conference and consists of 12 standing members (who serve three-year terms) as well as the chairs of the host and program committees for the annual conferences.

We have two open slots for standing members, and we are inviting nominations, including self-nominations. The nomination deadline is July 30th 2023.

Information about potential nominees

Nominees should have participated in at least one previous OR conference, ideally have been a member of a program or host committee for an OR conference, and have extensive experience with repositories and the international repository community. 

Some type of experience with the Open Repositories conference is necessary to join the ORSC.

ORSC members are expected to take part in a range of activities throughout the year, as well as those specifically related to the conference.

There is more information about the ORSC and expectations of members in our membership policy.

Examples of member activities include:

• Regular attendance at OR if at all possible. We note that for some potential members this can be difficult due to cost, travel, and schedules; the OR SC cannot provide funding for members to attend.
• Participating in the majority of the monthly committee meetings, including the in-person meeting that takes place at the conference every year.
• Participation in ad hoc or standing committees (e.g. Scholarship, Code of Conduct, Finance, Repositories, Communications etc.).
• Serving specific conference roles such as Program Chair or Poster Chair.
• Reflecting OR news and announcements (e.g. Calls for Papers, Expressions of Interest) via mailing lists and through social media.
• Timely participation in all discussions, in-person and online.
• Reviewing conference proposals and submissions.
• Reviewing conference host bids.
• Selecting new standing members for the ORSC.

We strongly recommend that potential nominees refer to the conference handbook for more information about the role of the ORSC.

Submitting a nomination

When submitting a nomination (and self-nominations are welcome) you will be asked to submit the following information:

1. Personal information: name, email, institution affiliation, and a brief description of the nominee’s role.
2. An indication that your nominee has attended at least one OR in the previous four years.
3. Statement of interest, e.g. why the nominee wants to join the Steering Committee.
4. Statement of qualifications, e.g. what specific experiences the nominee would bring to the Steering Committee.

Link to the nomination form.

Timeline

• The nomination deadline is July 30th 2023. 
• The OR Steering Committee will elect new members in August 2023.
• Successful new members will be expected to join the ORSC in September 2023 for a three-year period.

Any questions

If you have questions about the OR Steering Committee, please feel free to contact any of the current standing members or to reach out to the Chair, Claire Knowles and Vice-Chair, Torsten Reimer.

Expressions of Interest to host Open Repositories 2025

The Open Repositories Steering Committee seeks Expressions of Interest (EoI) from candidate host organisations for the 2025 Open Repositories (OR2025) Annual Conference. Preference is for proposals from the Americas (Central, North and South), though proposals from all geographic areas will be given consideration.

Important dates

The Open Repositories Steering Committee is accepting Expressions of Interest (EoIs) to host the OR2025 conference, to be submitted by until July 5th, 2023. Shortlisted sites will be notified by 16th August 2023 and invited to submit a full proposal.

Background

Candidate institutions must have the ability to host at least a four-day conference with up to 500 attendees (OR2016 held in Dublin, Ireland drew about 500 people and OR2017 held in Brisbane, Australia drew around 330). This includes appropriate access to conference facilities, lodging, and transportation, as well as the ability to manage a range of supporting services (food services, internet services, and conference social events; management of registration and online payments; etc.). The candidate institutions and their local arrangements committee must have the means to support the costs of producing the conference through attendee registration and independent fundraising. Fuller guidance is provided in the Open Repositories Conference Handbook on the Open Repositories wiki.

Expressions of Interest Guidelines

Organisations interested in proposing to host the OR2025 conference should follow the steps listed below:

1. Expressions of Interest (EoIs) must be received by July 5th, 2023. Please direct these EoIs and any enquiries to the OR Steering Committee Vice-Chair, Torsten Reimer at reimer@uchicago.edu
2. As noted above, the Open Repositories wiki has a set of pages at Open Repositories Conference Handbook which offer guidelines for organising an Open Repositories conference. Candidate institutions should pay particular attention to the pages listed at “Preparing a bid” before submitting an EoI.
3. The EoI should be brief (about 2 pages), and must include:
   1. the name of the institution (or institutions in the case of a joint bid)
   2. an email address as a first point of contact
   3. the proposed location for the conference venue

1. 1. 1. with a description of the local amenities available to delegates,
      2. its proximity to a reasonably well-served airport and
      3. its suitability for hosting OR in a way that is inclusive and welcoming for members of a diverse international community

A template for the EoI is available.

1. The Open Repositories Steering Committee will review proposals and may seek advice from additional reviewers.  Following the review, one or more institutions will be invited to submit a detailed proposal.
2. Invitations to submit a detailed proposal will be issued by the August 16th, 2023.  The invitations sent out will provide a timeline for submitting a formal proposal and details of additional information available to the shortlisted sites for help in the preparation of their bid. Institutions whose EoI was not successful at this time will also be notified.
3. The Open Repositories Steering Committee Chair and Vice-Chair will be happy to answer specific queries whilst proposals are being prepared.

The 18th International Open Repositories Conference (OR2023) will be held from 12-15 June 2023 at the Lord Charles Hotel, Somerset West, close to Stellenbosch, South Africa.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to the programme. The theme for the conference is Repositories unlocked for discovery and interoperability. 

OR2023 provides an opportunity to explore and reflect on the ways repositories enable discoverability and interoperability of information and data within the structured web of data. How can we better utilize repositories for machine interoperability? How can we develop the capacity of institutions to implement sustainable open repositories to improve data equity worldwide? In doing so the OR2023 conference will focus on the practices of the international repositories community to develop and implement the standards, frameworks, architectures, and methodologies for open repositories to serve as knowledge representation databases for the structured web of data.

We particularly welcome proposals aligned to the overall theme, but also on other administrative, organisational, or practical topics related to digital repositories. We are interested in the following sub-themes:

1.     Unbiased discovery of knowledge: Open repositories facilitating the unbiased discovery of indigenous knowledge.

2.     Sustainable development: Linking open repositories content to the UNESCO Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

3.     Linked data: Integration with other open knowledge resources (e.g. Wikimedia and Wikidata).

4.     Trust in the machine: Integrating repository content with the semantic web of data using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) knowledge representation language.

5.      Knowledge Organization Systems (KOS): Taxonomies and ontologies in open repositories to enhance the discoverability of data.

6.      Integrating content: Novel or complex formats, data types and sources.

7.      Repositioning repositories: Next-gen repositories, the Pubfair framework and new models.

Please visit the Call for Proposals page to learn more about the sub-themes and submission categories of the conference, including a full list of submission templates and key dates for submission deadlines and approvals.

The deadline for submissions is 15 January 2023.

We look forward to the vibrant conversations and learning opportunities of the conference.

Please see the registration fees on the Registration page (registration will open in March 2023).

Programme Co-Chairs:

• Ilkay Holt, British Library
• Mimi Seyffert-Wirth, Stellenbosch University
• Wouter Klapwijk, Stellenbosch University

Contact: or23-program-chairs@googlegroups.com

For the Open Repositories Steering Committee:

Claire Knowles and Torsten Reimer

It is with pleasure that we announce the date and venue for the 18^th Open Repositories Conference (OR 2023). The conference will be held from 12-15 June 2023 at the Lord Charles Hotel, Somerset West, which is close to Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch University Library and Information Service will be the host. We are looking forward to welcoming delegates to the first Open Repositories Conference on the African continent!

Nominations are open for new members

The Open Repositories Steering Committee (ORSC) is pleased to announce that we are opening nominations for standing members to join the OR Steering Committee.

ORSC manages the annual Open Repositories conference and consists of 12 standing members (who serve three-year terms) as well as the chairs of the host and program committees for the annual conferences.

We are inviting nominations, including self-nominations. The nomination deadline is July 30th 2022.

Information about potential nominees

Nominees should have participated in at least one previous OR conference, ideally have been a member of a program or host committee for an OR conference, and have extensive experience with repositories and the international repository community. 

Some type of experience with the Open Repositories conference is necessary to join the ORSC.

ORSC members are expected to take part in a range of activities throughout the year, as well as those specifically related to the conference.

There is more information about the ORSC and expectations of members in our membership policy.

Examples of member activities include:

• Regular attendance at OR if at all possible. We note that for some potential members this can be difficult due to cost, travel, and schedules; the OR SC cannot provide funding for members to attend.
• Participating in the majority of the monthly committee meetings, including the in-person meeting that takes place at the conference every year.
• Participation in ad hoc or standing committees (e.g. Scholarship, Code of Conduct, Finance, etc.).
• Serving specific conference roles such as Program Chair or Poster Chair.
• Reflecting OR news and announcements (e.g. Calls for Papers, Expressions of Interest) via mailing lists and through social media.
• Timely participation in all discussions, in-person and online.
• Reviewing conference proposals and submissions.
• Reviewing conference host bids.
• Selecting new standing members for the ORSC.

We strongly recommend that potential nominees refer to the conference handbook for more information about the role of the ORSC.

Submitting a nomination

When submitting a nomination (and self-nominations are welcome) you will be asked to submit the following information:

1. Personal information: name, email, institution affiliation, and a brief description of the nominee’s role.
2. An indication that your nominee has attended at least one OR in the previous four years.
3. Statement of interest, e.g. why the nominee wants to join the Steering Committee.
4. Statement of qualifications, e.g. what specific experiences the nominee would bring to the Steering Committee.

Link to the nomination form.

Timeline

• The nomination deadline is July 30th 2022. 
• The OR Steering Committee will elect new members in August 2022.
• Successful new members will be expected to join the ORSC in September 2022 for a three-year period.

Any questions

If you have questions about the OR Steering Committee, please feel free to contact any of the current standing members or to reach out to the Chair, Claire Knowles and Vice-Chair, Torsten Reimer.

Open Repositories has always been about bringing together people from across the world to support each other, develop solutions that benefit all and enable an open exchange of ideas based on democratic values. Russia’s unprovoked and illegal invasion does not only cause untold suffering to the people of Ukraine, it is aimed at destroying the values we as a community hold dear.

It has also affected us directly, with Ukrainian members of our community being attacked alongside other civilians in Ukraine. Iryna Kuchma, a long-standing member of OR and former program co-chair, has shared tweets about missile attacks. Our thoughts are with her, all members of our community and everyone under attack. Iryna has called to the community to make donations to help civilians who are suffering, and we are joining her in this call. If you can afford it, please give to a reputable charity including the Disasters Emergency Committee  Ukraine Appeal and UNICEF.

We are pleased to announce the dates, theme, and venue for Open Repositories 2022. It will be held 6th – 9th June at the Auraria Campus in Downtown Denver, Colorado, USA.  The theme for this year’s conference is Building Trust Together: Integrating, Collaborating & Sharing.

The local hosts and Open Repositories Steering Committee have not taken the decision to host a physical conference lightly. We are mindful of the on-going Covid-19 pandemic and will be monitoring the ongoing situation and regulations. We are considering how we can build on the successes of the virtual conferences we have held in the last two years that have enabled us to grow the open repositories family. We are intending to have some online elements to Open Repositories 2022, however they will not be in the form of a hybrid conference and the call for proposals is for the physical conference in Denver.

Thank you for your continued support of the Open Repositories community.

Claire Knowles. Open Repositories Steering Committee Chair and Torsten Reimer, Open Repositories Steering Committee Vice-Chair