The committee manages the annual Open Repositories conference, ensures that host organisers are identified, and assists in the organisation of the annual conference.
The committee consists of 14-16 permanent members and 2-3 members appointed for a single year, the latter group consisting of members of host and programme committees. Members should ideally have participated in previous conferences and have extensive experience with repositories and the international repository community.
Examples of member activities include:
Participating in committee meetings
Attending the international conference
Contributing to committee policy work, for example by chairing a sub-committee
Serving specific conference roles such as programme chair or poster chair
Reflecting OR news and announcements (e.g. Calls for Papers, Expressions of Interest) via mailing lists and through social media
Reviewing conference proposals and submissions
Adding and reviewing ORSC membership
Following the annual conference the ORSC should review its composition, both in terms of recruiting new members and the retirement of those who wish to step down.
ORSC members should be asked to nominate potential new members for the SC and these names should be discussed. If there is agreement about a candidate they should be approached by the Chair and invited to join the SC.
In any given year the Programme Chair(s) and Local Host Chair(s) are automatically part of the ORSC, and following a successful conference the SC may wish to invite them to join the Steering Committee as permanent members.
At the same time, all existing members of ORSC should be invited to indicate whether they are willing to continue to serve on the committee, or whether they would like to retire from it. In situations where members have not made contributions to committee work in a calendar year, they are assumed to have retired. Retirement could take two forms: complete disassociation from the group or a move to "ex officio" status where they may continue to receive emails and be invited to contribute to discussions where their experience would be valuable.
At the beginning of, or just prior to, each academic year members of ORSC should consider the positions of Chair and Vice Chair of the Steering Committee. If one or both of these positions will be vacated (end-of-term or resignation), nominations should be sought for replacements from the committee. The nominations should be voted on by the committee as soon as possible. Ideally, appointments will be for a two-year term. The outgoing Chair, or in their absence the Vice Chair should initiate this process to ensure continuity.
ORSC maintains a closed mailing list at openrepositories_sc@utlists.utexas.edu The membership of this list needs to be maintained to reflect the membership of the SC and its additions (e.g. the various Chairs of conference committees) in any given year. Management of this list will be the responsibility of the Chair and Vice Chair.
Documentation