The online research @ Derby archive (ORDA)
Working in partnership with Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, ORDA is the official institutional research repository for the NHS in Derbyshire. It capture’s, stores and preserves the research output and makes it available to the research community through Open Access Protocols.
During which period did you implement your innovation?
Development took place between September and December 2016. ORDA went live in January 2017
What was the driver for your innovation?
Research has shown that work published in repositories can gain up to 300% more citations than evidence published in journals that limit access through paid for subscriptions. As a Teaching Hospital, this means increased exposure to our work. Increasingly, more research funding bodies are insisting that work carried out under their grants must also be deposited within an institutional or subject specific repository.
We wanted to establish partnerships across the region by working in cooperation with colleagues in Derbyshire to capture our combined research output. Through the repository we have been able to showcase the NHS research undertaken in Derby and Derbyshire.
Many of our staff have been using ResearchGate to store their research output. Getting them on board through our marketing strategies has really altered this approach and has been an opportunity to build on the relationships with our Consultants.
To link in with the Knowledge for Healthcare Programme and contribute to the evidence for 1.1c and 5.4a of the LQAF.
Initial discussions with our R & D department and clinicians including the Medical Director identified support for this initiative and a desire to contribute to the repository.
What did you do?
Our main aim was to make our combined research visible, create exposure to the work done within our Trusts and to connect with colleagues from inside the Trust and externally.
After reviewing various repository providers, we purchased DSpace through KnowledgeArc. We then established ORDA. From September to December 2016 we uploaded onto ORDA any published work from 2010 onwards from the Trust with references obtained from HDAS and PubMed. We uploaded articles, conference proceedings, presentations and posters.
We wanted ORDA to work as seamlessly as possible and so uploaded PDF’s rather than including full-text links. We used Sherpa Romeo to check for copyright restrictions before uploading PDF’s to the database. Authors were contacted if copyright restrictions prevented the publisher’s version/PDF being uploaded and they were asked to provide a pre or post print version.
Open access full-text articles were downloaded from the Internet, other articles were ordered through the British Library copyright fee paid service and placed in a ‘copyright restricted’ collection. These items are supressed from Google and to view them you need to either ask for permission from an administrator or register with ORDA.
We marketed ORDA throughout our Trusts using posters, guides and utilising social media. A number of Libraries contacted us on the back of seeing our Twitter feed on ORDA so be able to help other librarians through the benefit of our own experience helped to build external relationships.
What methods were used to evaluate your innovation?
Monthly statistics are gathered using an integrated PIWIK. These show the site hits and number of downloads. Since the system went live we have had 975 hits and 235 downloads.
Inter-Library loans statistics are monitored and since January, ORDA has satisfied 7 ILL requests for other NHS Libraries, saving both staff time and money.
Consultants have begun to contact us directly about putting their research output onto ORDA. When they do this we have a short interview with them to establish how they heard about ORDA and their thoughts on the system. So far, feedback has been extremely positive.
What were the outcomes and key learning points?
The issue of copyright surrounding repositories was quite complex and often bewildering at the start of our process. We now have a greater understanding of copyright legislation and archiving, having identified a number of tools to guide us through.
We chose DSpace, a small company, as the software provider for the repository. The support they provided was excellent, although it did require tough negotiation and strong communication skills. This has resulted in a close working relationship with the company.
The levels of NHS bureaucracy regarding IT systems was also a learning curve.
Getting an ‘ORDA Champion’ on board would have been beneficial at the start of the project as we have found that word-of-mouth has been the main route for junior doctors in using the database. We have two of these champions now and since we have got these people on board our statistics have increased quite rapidly.
Further information
Take a look at ORDA (opens in new tab)
LQAF (cited in section “What was the driver for your innovation”)
1.1c “The library/knowledge service works in partnership with other organisations and agencies across the local health community to modernise and develop services to meet customer needs, expectations and choice”)
5.4a “Members of the library/knowledge services (LKS) team are actively involved in the creation, capture, sharing, utilisation or reuse of knowledge in the organisation(s) served.”
Submitted by Beth Rawson, Deputy Knowledge and Library Service manager, Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust