CAIRSS (CAUL Australasian Institutional Repository Support Service)
Wednesday, 2 January 2013
The primary function of CAIRSS (CAUL Australasian Institutional Repository Support Service) was to offer support for Repository Managers in the higher education sector in Australia. The service officially commenced March 16, 2009. In 2010, CAUL & CONZUL members agreed to continue its support through to the end of 2012.
Following the decision by CAUL in September, 2012, to normalise CAIRSS functions within the CAUL committee structure, the program formally ceased at the end of 2012. Various functions and activities will be undertaken by the newly-formed CAUL Research Advisory Committee, the CAUL Copyright Committee, the CAUL Office and the CAIRSS community.
The website was the central hub for program activity, and its content is being migrated to the CAUL website prior to the shutdown of the CAIRSS website at the end of March, 2013.
The establishment of CAIRSS
Following discussions with the Department of Innovation (DIISR) the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) Executive, and the ARROW Management Committee, CAUL established the CAUL Australian (now Australasian) Institutional Repository Support Service (CAIRSS), to provide support for all institutional repositories in Australian universities, regardless of the software being used.
CAIRSS is overseen by CAUL and was initially funded by the residue of the ARROW funds plus the annual Australasian Digital Theses Program (ADT) contribution to provide support beyond the end of 2008 over a two/three year period. (approved by CAUL 2009/2, September, 2008)
In 2010, CAUL & CONZUL members agreed to continue its support through to the end of 2012. Its name was formally changed to "Australasian" in April, 2011.
CAIRSS Invitation to Offer (October 2008)
CAUL appointed the University of Southern Queensland, through the Australian Digital Futures Institute (ADFI) within the Division of Academic Information Services (DAIS) to undertake its new institutional repository support service. The contract was agreed, and the service commenced officially on March 16, 2009. (2/4/09)
CAIRSS – supporting access to university research. Announcement. (18/3/09)
CAIRSS progress reports are linked from the documents at the end of this page. [Members only]
The disestablishment of the ADT (Australasian Digital Theses Program)
The Australasian Digital Theses Program ceased operation in March 2011. The database server has been decomissioned, and the content of that database is accessible from the National Library of Australia’s Trove service. Each participating university will continue to host their own digital theses and house their own print and other non-digital theses.
An information page has been prepared to provide links to theses-specific searches via Trove. Trove will also provide links to Australian digital theses.