AMBER: the ambulance research repository

A case study about the creation if the AMBER repository.

Who wrote this case study?

  • Matt Holland [email protected] from Library and Knowledge Service for NHS Ambulance Services in England (LKS ASE) (2019).
  • Michelle Dutton [email protected] from Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust Library (2019).

Who asked?

This knowledge mobilistion (KM) story is about the development of AMBER – the ambulance research repository. AMBER is part of a package of services that the Library and Knowledge Service for NHS Ambulance Services in England (LKS ASE)  agreed to deliver in partnership with the National Education Network for Ambulance Services [NENAS].  

What did they say?

Knowledge about repositories among the paramedic/ambulance research community was limited. To raise awareness of the benefits of repositories LKS ASE with colleagues in Health Education England (HEE) conducted a consultation with interested parties.

LKS ASE also made contact with the National Ambulance Research Steering Group (NARSG) who represent ambulance research in the UK.

Briefly, what they said was that there:

  • is a need for a central database of ambulance service publications to answer the question what has been published
  • is a need to provide information about publications in electronic form to support the forthcoming development of the NASRG website
  • was an understanding that a repository was a tool to support an emerging research infrastructure for ambulance service research
  • was a concern about the inclusion of unpublished research in the repository
  • was an interest in the idea of a repository from a other communities reached by the consultation in urgent care and allied health professions who identified the repository as a solution to dissemination and sharing of knowledge in their areas of activity

What did you do?

LKS ASE worked with NARSG and the LKS ASE Steering Group to ensure the chosen solution, the structure of the repository and branding and marketing were appropriate. The repository software chosen was Atmire’s Open Repository.

LKS ASE partnered with  Manchester University NHS FT Hospital Library to input the data. The plan is informed by our shared experience of  repository development and management. This experience enabled us to trouble shoot the technical challenges and make good decisions about the data quality.

Planning for the repository began in March 2019. Once procedures and processes had been worked through with Manchester, data entry started in May 2019. 

The repository reached its first milestone in September 2019 with the branding and marketing in place and 3 years of data (2017 to date). The repository will be completed in March 2020. 

KLS ASE attended the Emergency Services Show, and the College of Paramedics Research Conference as an exhibitor for a soft launch of amber. Further attendances are planned for 2019 and 2020. 

All ambulance services in the UK were sent the publicity material for internal distribution. LKS ASE created a marketing website materials and showcased amber at exhibitions and conferences.

How did it help?

AMBER has answered the question about what has been published. It is part of the planned NARSG website and ambulance service partners will link to AMBER on intranet and webpages.

The view expressed at a recent research conference is that ambulance service research in general has crossed a threshold of development. AMBER’s development is timely helping raising the profile of ambulance service research. 

The creation of amber enables a number of future developments:

  • a possible extension of the content amber to other nations to match the UK footprint of the ambulance service reseach infrastructure  – to include Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
  • full text content (pre and post prints) to enable amber to register with international repository search engines Bielefeld Academic Search Engine (BASE) and the Open Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) 

 

November 2019