Conclusions

The survey covered a range of topics and while it confirmed some existing ideas it also brought to light several new trends.

Very few institutions have an installed and functional end-to-end system of the sort envisaged by RMAS. As already known, there are a large number of installed systems and a definite upsurge in the number of installed publications databases and Institutional Repositories. Integration between the different systems is widely variable and there is no clear preferred integration method.

While the REF figures very highly in the thoughts of institutions there is also a very significant drive to improve the service offered to end users and increase capacity.

Awareness of the various initiatives in this area was variable. The RCUK projects JE-S and ROP are both reasonably well known but EXRI-UK has attracted little attention.

While many institutions are working on developing a RIM strategy less than half have an implemented strategy and a small number of institutions see no need to develop one.