The Open Repositories Steering Committee (ORSC) manages the annual Open Repositories conference, ensures that host organisers are identified, and assists in the organisation of the annual conference.

Open Repositories Steering Committee membership

The committee consists of a maximum of 12 standing members* with three-year terms; and 3-5 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.

Steering Committee members are expected to take part in a range of activities throughout the year, as well as those specifically related to the conference. Examples of member activities include:

* To manage membership terms renewals in August 2021 it was agreed that the 2021-2022 Standing Steering Committee would consist of 13 members. 

Each year a recruitment process will take place to ensure that the steering committee at any given time consists of members representing the OR community in all its breadth. The annual process will run as follows:

  1. In April/May, existing members of ORSC coming up towards the end of their first three-year term should be invited to indicate whether they would like to renew their membership, 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 (unless they are on leave as indicated below). Members stepping down typically do this in September, but they will be kept on the mailing list until the end of the year to ensure completion of any tasks, etc. Note: past members of the SC who have already served six years would be eligible to be nominated again after a period of two years.
  2. A call for nominations opens at the OR conference in June. Nominations can be made by Steering Committee members or other members of the OR community. Self-nominations are acceptable. Names are collected through a web form and listed on the ORSC internal wiki. New members compete with SC members up for renewals for space. Deadline for nominations is July 31.
  3. Nominees are required to submit the following materials:
    1. Personal information, name, email, institution affiliation, and brief role description.
    2. Indication the nominee has attended at least one OR in the previous four years.
    3. Statement of interest, e.g. why the nominee wants to join the Steering Committee.
    4. Statement of qualifications, e.g. what specific experiences the nominee would bring to the Steering Committee.
  4. During the month of August Steering Committee members review the names and discuss online and during the August Steering Committee meeting as needed. A vote of the steering committee is held, either in the meeting or online. The top X vote-getters are selected and notified (where X is the number of departing Steering Committee members).
  5. New members join the ORSC from September. Retiring members are also expected to step down at the same time. Membership spots that become vacant throughout the year will be left vacant until the process described above can kick off.

Leave: It is possible to take up to one year of leave from the ORSC for parental leave, health reasons or similar. The period of leave should be deducted from the 3-year term.

In any given year, the Programme Chair(s) and Local Host Chair(s) are automatically part of the ORSC.

Process and term for ORSC officers (Chair, Vice Chair)

In April/May, 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.

Candidates for Vice Chair and Chair must serve on the ORSC for at least a year before being eligible. Unless the serving Vice Chair wishes to withdraw from the ORSC, he or she will automatically take over as Chair. ORSC membership terms will be extended as needed in order for leadership terms to be fulfilled. For example, if a member is elected vice chair in the third (last year) of her first term, she would automatically be granted a second term so that he or she can fulfill the chair role as well. In this example, once the chairship ends, he or she would step down and off the SC.

The nominations should be voted on by the committee as soon as possible. Chair appointments will ideally run for terms of four years (two as Vice Chair followed by two as Chair). The outgoing Chair, or in their absence the Vice Chair should initiate this process to ensure continuity.

Email communication

ORSC maintains a closed mailing list through CLIR. 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 (Restricted to OR Steering Committee Members)