Having finalized the Knowledge Bank proposal and submitted it to the OSU Distance Learning/Continuting Education Committee, the Knowledge Bank Planning Committee (chaired by Joseph J. Branin, director of Libraries) discussed next steps and developed the following action plan for the remainder of 2002. During the next several months, the Knowledge Bank Planning Committee will focus on strategic planning, prototyping, and community engagement, with the goal of developing clearly defined objectives and a detailed implementation and business plan by November 2002.

The activities identified as next steps are divided into three broad categories:

• Planning
• Developing web pilots and prototypes
• Exploring intellectual property issues

Specific action items, along with assignments of responsibility and target completion dates, are listed under each category below. The specific tasks noted for each action item are ones that were mentioned at committee meetings, but they are not intended to be comprehensive. The individual work groups may find them useful as a starting point.

PLANNING

Action item: Assess what other institutions are doing (also listed under Web Pilots/Prototypes category below)
Assigned to: Carver, Dempsey, Metros, Rogers (lead)
Target completion date: Sept. 2002
Tasks:

• Identify and do a more formal assessment of other institutional repository projects
  • Susan Metros mentioned that the NLII work group she is starting would be good to help with this
• Create a web site to record information about other projects
  • Perhaps OSU could become known as the site for information on institutional repositories. Susan Metros mentioned that a number of sites already have some of this info; e.g. Learning Circuits (http://www.learningcircuits.org/)
• Explore partnerships with other institutional repository projects (e.g. DSpace federation) (also listed under Partnerships action item below)

Action item: Do a needs assessment
Assigned to: Craft, Kalal, Litchfield, McCandless (lead), Rhodus
Target completion date: Sept. 2002
Tasks:

• Do a needs assessment to find out what people want in a Knowledge Bank
• Tim Rhodus suggested casting it as "a day in the life of ..." (i.e. what it will do for people)
• Use the PlanIT data to collect information on needs at OSU
• Consider what digital projects are being done on campus already (see Inventory action item below for this information)
• Would a pre-print service be a place to start (i.e., is there a need at OSU)?
• Identify incentives for participation in the Knowledge Bank

Action item: Determine required technical infrastructure and estimate costs<br> Assigned to: Bauer, Boomgaarden, Dagefoerde, Dempsey, Dennis, Kalal (lead), Westman
Target completion date: Oct. 2002
Tasks:

• Look at technological infrastructure (including version control)
• Assess what digital projects are being done on campus already and see if there is a way to "stitch them together" (see Inventory action item above for information on existing projects)
• Plan for security (disaster recovery), maintenance, and update
• Consider how to manage storage and long-term access, preservation

Action item: Explore partnerships
Assigned to: Branin, Dempsey, Dennis, Escovitz, Kroll, Metros, Rhimes (lead), Vaughan
Target completion date: Nov. 2002
Tasks:

• Explore partnerships with other institutional repository projects (e.g. DSpace federation) (also listed under "Assess what other institutions are doing" action item above)
• Host an NLII focus group fall 2003
• Communicate with and solicit support from constituents: faculty, Ohio Board of Regents, students, alumni, deans
• Explore possibility of Third Frontier connection
• Talk with Ohio SuperComputer center
• Talk with OhioLINK
• Talk with Battelle
• Look for Ohio hardware partners; e.g. NCR

Action item: Prepare a Knowledge Bank funding request for the FY04 OSU budget
Assigned to: Knowledge Bank work group leaders (collectively)
Target completion date: Nov. 2002
Notes:

• All work groups should consider one-time and ongoing budget implications as they complete their assigned action items
• The Partnership work group may produce some grant proposals that could be taken into account when developing the internal funding request

Action item: Engage/inform the University community about the Knowledge Bank
Assigned to: Knowledge Bank work group leaders (collectively), along with Alan Escovitz and Cathy Bindewald Target completion date: progress reports in August, October, December 2002; other communications as appropriate Notes:

• Bring in experts to talk with us about Knowledge Bank issues (e.g., Raym Crow, who is writing a SPARC white paper on institutional repositories, and MacKenzie Smith, Associate Director for Technology at MIT Libraries, for the DSpace project); would be similar to Technology Days presentations and could help engage the faculty (might need planning money to support this)
• Thought leaders could help us think outside the box
• Knowledge Bank Planning Committee members could give presentations to the faculty
• Provide regular progress reports to the University administration
• Prepare other written updates to generate interest of the campus community

WEB PILOTS/PROTOTYPES

Action item: Inventory of OSU digital projects and Web site
Assigned to: Project group composed of the OSUL Digital Initiatives Steering Committee (including Boomgaarden, Rogers, and Westman) and some members of the OSU Library User Services Web Subcommittee (including Carver); Boomgaarden and Rogers are co-leaders
Target completion date: have a web site by Sept. 2002 even if inventory is not complete
Tasks:

• Assess what digital projects are being done on campus already
• Create a web presence to record information about and provide access to OSU's digital projects
• For projects to which web access cannot be provided, consider including a description and contact person (with permission) on the web site

Action item: Assess what other institutions are doing (also listed under Planning category above)
Assigned to: Carver, Dempsey, Metros, Rogers (lead)
Target completion date: Sept. 2002
Tasks:

• Identify and do a more formal assessment of other institutional repository projects
  • Susan Metros mentioned that the NLII work group she is starting would be good to help with this
  • Create a web site to record information about other projects
  • Perhaps OSU could become known as the site for information on institutional repositories. Susan Metros mentioned that a number of sites already have some of this info; e.g. Learning Circuits (http://www.learningcircuits.org/)
• Explore partnerships with other knowledge bank projects (e.g. DSpace federation) (also listed under Partnerships action item below)

Action item: Develop a site map or screen shots of what the Knowledge Bank might look like
Assigned to: Carver, Dagefoerde, Metros (lead), Rhodus
Target completion date: Oct. 2002
Tasks:

• Define knowledge bank resources and services more clearly
• Look at the broader context of data management at OSU (other projects like data warehouse exist - where are similarities and differences?)
• Look at pedagogical infrastructure
• Create a representation of what we imagine the Knowledge Bank would look like
• Create a web site to coordinate information about the OSU Knowledge Bank
• Consider how to do an interface for many diverse resources on campus
  • Susan Metros mentioned there are some good models for this

Action item: Coordinate development of a campus faculty research directory and web-based tenure/promotion review documentation
Assigned to: Branin (lead), Craft, Dennis, Rhodus, Starr, Westman; in conjunction with Council on Libraries and Information Technology, OSUL Advisory Committee on Research, and RCAC.
Target completion date: initial prototype and progress report, Nov. 2002
Tasks:

• Discuss how FAES system works to help set direction for development
• Discuss how Libraries FAR has been designed to follow core dossier format (some sections are cumulative and so do not have to be redone each year) and how list of faculty publications on web was derived from FARs
• Consider incentives for using such a system
  • e-portfolios for faculty -- a popular concept currently

Action item: Coordinate development of an OSU policy on intellectual property for digital information created by OSU faculty, staff, and students
Assigned to: OSU Council on Libraries and Information Technology (Branin (lead), Kalal, Rhimes), Kroll, Litchfield, Vaughan
Target completion date: progress report Nov. 200
2 Notes:

• Can use draft OSU Policy on Patents and Copyrights (dated July 2000) as a starting point for identifying what policies OSU has and what is still needed
• Susan Kroll mentioned they plan to have an Intellectual Property office in BioInformatics
• Rights management: Susan Metros said the new version of WebCT (Vista) is supposed to include this feature so we should look at it
• Creating original material for the Knowledge Bank would provide an alternative to dealing with copyright restrictions, seeking permission to digitize, etc.