Fourth meeting of the European Platform for Current Research Database
Producers (EuroCRIS), June 6-7, 1997 at the University of Bergen, Norway

Jostein H. Hauge, Secretary of EuroCRIS, welcomed 25 participants from 14 countries to the fourth EuroCRIS Platform Meeting and outlined the programme of the Meeting.

Excuses were received from Mr. Mario Bellardinelli and Mr. Ian Perry.

Mr. Hauge also presented a welcoming speech on behalf of the Library Director at the University, Dr. Kari Garnes, who was unable to attend the opening of the Meeting.

Mr. Hauge explained that the first part of the Meeting would be dedicated to exchange of information on new developments in the participating countries, while the second part would concentrate on various European projects within research documentation and on international co-operative ventures in the field.

Each member /delegate gave updated information on new development in their countries.

Based on the presentations given from each country the Meeting had a wide-ranging round table in relation to on-going and future work in the fields of CRIS.

A selection of the topics:

1. The scope of CRISs in years to come

• the need to include in CRIS systems information on results and expertise
• the close relation of CRIS to electronic library activities, e.g. in the field of full text/multimedia presentation of scientific results in combination with reference data
• relation between CRIS and specialised research information services, e.g the grey literature database. SIGLE

2. Important success factors of CRIS systems

• close relationship with data providers
• mechanisms for securing updated and quality-controlled data
• use of relevant expertise from other documentation sectors, e.g. in relation to standardisation, classification and indexing, use of authority registers etc.
• monolithic systems are out, de-centralised systems are rapidly emerging
• effective documentation systems on institutional level constitute the future basis for regional/national systems
• exploitation of the possibilities for re-use/ "recycling" of research information
• the need of coming to grips with the intricate problems of ownership/copyright, e.g. when extending reference data to full-text information sources
• the importance of demonstrating the value of CRISs for science monitoring, in evaluation studies and quality management work

Ms. van Woensel gave a presentation of the ongoing ERGO project. The main idea behind ERGO has been to establish a European-wide network of the most important research information databases in all EU/EEA countries. A series of ERGO nodes will be set up in different countries equipped with core information on current research projects carried out in all the countries involved in the ERGO network. Users of the ERGO system will thus get access to information from a variety of sources at a single node and the possibility to electronically ask for more information on the items of information found in the local node. This information will be provided by direct transmission of e-mail to the relevant source node.

A basic version of ERGO is currently under construction, consisting of one prototype node at CORDIS. Depending on available resources a series of value-adding services are envisaged, e.g. in the field of automatic translation. Lately a European implementation group has been set up to co-operate with the development staff at CORDIS. This group supplements the expert group (working party) in ERGO which deals with strategic issues, planning and financial application preparations. A substantial part of the EuroCRIS members are also members of the working party of ERGO.

More information on ERGO can be obtained from CORDIS.

Mr. Richard Cleary from Cartermill International, co-ordinator of the Project, presented the latest version of the project report.

Based on the presentation, the group had a detailed discussion on both the contents of the report (the production of which has previously involved a majority of the members of the Platform) and different ways of applying the recommendations it contains.

One general conclusion was that the report should be looked upon as a dynamic document to be continuously updated/refined/expanded.

The Platform unanimously agreed that the continuation of the project activities is crucial in order to fruitfully develop the field of CRIS further and that mechanisms should be implemented as soon as possible in order to continue and expand the work initiated by the present project.

The platform asked Cartermill to finalise the tabled report as soon as possible and called upon the co-ordinator to express to CORDIS the views of the Platform as regards the need for follow-up activities.

Members of the project groups were given 10 days to supply Cartermill with their final comments to the report.

The CERIF format was published in 1991, but has not been maintained since then. It has for some years been clear that the current version of CERIF needs major adjustments and also thematic expansion in order to cover documentation areas in CRIS work that are not included in the current version.

Ms. van Woensel also made reference to the letter sent to the Commission from the EuroCRIS Group where the Commission was strongly asked to implement actions with a view to further developing CERIF. The meeting was told that actions had already been taken to start work on CERIF. The responsibility for CERIF has been transferred to DGXII-D.2 and in July a proposal will be sent to The Innovation Programme Committee to gain support for (quickly) developing CERIF further - as it will also be an important point of reference for ERGO. Three European expert groups are envisaged to support the development work at CORDIS.

Ms. Lieve van Woensel reported on the current planning of the Conference and on the meeting in the Programme Committee held in Bergen on June 5.

Members of the Platform were called upon to give a helping hand in marketing the conference and providing names of possible keynote speakers.

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After the presentations of the projects mentioned above the Platform had a round table on the key topics and expressed their satisfaction with the important initiatives that have been taken during the last year. Members also expressed their wish to be kept informed at future meetings on the progress of the activities presented at the Bergen meeting.

Ms. Hubbard gave a presentation of the web-based data collection system currently under development at Cartemill International. The system was also demonstrated during the meeting.

Mr. Ed Simmons presented and demonstrated the Uniter system which e.g. shows how web-technology can productively be put to use in documentation work at a university.

Mr. Hovmand and Mr. Gubberud demonstrated the Holberg database where data from two databases can be simultaneously accessed by the use of a WAIS system and explained how the method employed in the pilot-study can easily allow for the inclusion of a variety of different databases.

Mr Hauge told the Platform of recent experiences at the University of Bergen regarding participation by researchers in building institution-based CRIS systems. It seems that researchers need to see directly how a CRIS system will be of use to them in their day-to-day scholarly activities before they are willing to participate wholeheartedly in contributing data to the system. Based on conversations with different researchers the Research Documentation Unit at the University of Bergen has started deliberations on how modules for personal research administration tasks can be integrated in CRIS systems of the future.

By way of introducing a round table on the above topic Mr. Søren Hovmand gave some remarks on the need for close collaboration between those active in CRIS activities, also with a view to getting to know about other people’s successes and failures. For one thing we all need to get information on "success stories" that can underpin our arguments relating to the value of a CRIS system, e.g. for improving the planning, marketing and use of research.

Members of the Platform expressed the view that the broad variety of initiatives documented at the Bergen Meeting provided strong reasons for the Platform to have meetings approx. twice a year. The members would then be able to be well updated on the progress of the work undertaken and would at the same time have a chance to provide input at different stages during the execution of the projects.

The Secretariat was called upon to consider whether the next meeting could possibly be held some time towards the end of 1997.

The Secretary of EuroCRIS, Mr. Jostein H. Hauge, thanked the participants for their active participation in the meeting and the lively debate, and hoped that the participants would make active use of the established electronic means of communication between meetings.

The Platform expressed their thanks to the Secretariat for its efforts in the preparation of the meeting and the related social activities.