Debating the future of the UK's Higher Education information infrastructure

On Tuesday 13 December leading Higher Education representatives responded to proposals for the development of a 'National Research Reserve' (NRR) to store low use print collections. The NRR was presented as one of several options for the most efficient and cost-effective solution to the shortage of research library storage. All options are detailed in the report by CHEMS Consulting, 'Optimising storage and access in UK research libraries'.

(Visit www.curl.ac.uk/about/documents/CURL_BLStorageReptExecSummary.pdf)

The report, commissioned earlier this year by the British Library and CURL Consortium of Research Libraries (CURL), sets out five options to tackle the shortage of library storage. It recommends that Option 4 should be adopted and the new concept of a 'National Research Reserve' (NRR) developed.

Option 4 is based upon the holdings of the British Library, which would form by far the largest part of the NRR. The British Library would guarantee to hold the low-use print material in perpetuity for researchers to access in either hard copy or e-format via Secure Electronic Delivery (SED). Research libraries would be encouraged to send to the NRR any materials they possessed that were not already held by the British Library.

Under the title 'Evolution or Revolution?' the launch of the report and debate centred on a series of presentations by leading UK representatives from the library and research communities to an audience of over one hundred of their peers. Each speaker considered, from their own special perspective, Option 4 and its proposed solution to the current problem of research library storage in the UK.

All presentations will be made available on the CURL website: www.curl.ac.uk

A task force has been set up to take forward the implementation of the NRR, including the detailed workings of the funding case, service and business model. The task force will respond in May 2006 with its findings and in the meantime the British Library, Research Information Network (RIN) and the Consortium of Research Libraries (CURL) will continue to provide regular updates and respond to questions from the library and information community.

For further information contact: Lawrence Christensen, British Library Press Office, lawrence.christensen@bl.uk Tel. +44 (0)20 7412 7114 or Robin Green, CURL Executive Director robin.green@curl.ac Tel. +44 (0)121 415 8106.

Notes to editors

1. 'Evolution or Revolution?' was presided over by Clare Jenkins, Chair of CURL. Speakers who took part in the debate included:

David Eastwood, Vice-Chancellor, University of East Anglia and board member of Higher Education Funding council for England

Debbie Shorley, Director of Library Services, University of Sussex and President of Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals

Helen Hayes, Vice-Principal for Knowledge Management and Librarian to the University of Edinburgh, and member of CHEMS Consulting Team

Jan Wilkinson, Head of Higher Education, British Library

Michael Jubb, Director, Research Information Network

Martin Lewis, Director of Library Services, Sheffield University, and member of CURL Board

Professor Mary Ritter, Pro-Rector for Postgraduate and International Affairs, Imperial College  

2. CURL ( www.curl.ac.uk ) is a partnership of 29 major research libraries whose mission is to increase the ability of research libraries to share resources and provide for the information needs of the local, national and international research community. CURL's primary service is COPAC ( www.copac.ac.uk ), a freely-available catalogue of over 40 million items primarily from member library holdings.

3. The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. Further information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk, which currently records almost 2 million 'hits' or visits per month.

4. CHEMS Consulting ( http://chemsconsulting.com ) is a leading specialist management consultancy in Higher Education policy and management.