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The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) information environment aims to offer seamless and integrated access to a wide range of digital collections and resources through a common interface. Portals are a primary means through which such resources will be delivered to users, facilitating the discovery of information. Portals can deliver their functionality by embedding distinct portal services in Web environments familiar to the user, such as an institutional portal or virtual learning environment. Initial work on such embedding has started, though this promises to be a major area for future development.

In order to address the problem of discovering and accessing relevant documents in the ever‐increasing amount of information presented to us, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has funded a series of projects to address the chain of information access: discover, locate, request, deliver. This article reviews the work and results of these JOIN‐UP projects and places them in the wider context of document delivery, the use of open standards to achieve interoperability between systems, and the overall information environment that users interact with. In addition, initial progress on the development of a national serials union catalogue, SUNCAT, is reported, to assist with national discovery of journal titles.

The purpose of the linking repositories study was to conduct research to identify appropriate sustainable technical and organisational models to support the development of end‐user oriented services across repositories. The work covered four overlapping strands: user and community requirements, roles and responsibilities, technical architecture and infrastructure, and business and management models.

Interviews, focus groups and a questionnaire were used to elicit the knowledge held. This information was combined with a literature review and reported alongside the proposed models derived from an analysis of the information gathered.

Five distinct groups of end‐users were identified and their respective roles and responsibilities identified. Relevant services to serve these groups were also identified and a services model constructed showing the relationships between them. An aggregation model is proposed to support technical development. A range of business models are suggested, each of which may be applicable in different circumstances.

The models contain a series of recommendations for subsequent research and testing to establish the relative merits of the models proposed and develop these further.

The technical model in particular makes a number of practical recommendations for how repositories need to be structured so as to best support end‐user services. These are complementary to recommendations on repository management.

The research reported in this paper represents a consolidation of views reported previously, and a novel analysis of this information to assist in taking repository service development further.

Seeks to assess how new research and progress about how libraries and institutional web sites can adapt a range of distinct search tools using the portlet standards to achieve improved access.

Locally integrated web search tools help users to navigate through web sites without needing to go to multiple sites.

Search tools should be created with delivery via a portlet in mind. Compliance to CREE defined standards suggest good results as proven by several partners. This set of procedures suggests a very good future for locally integrated web search tools.

Examples of experiences with different partners suggest rather remarkable promise for portlet standards that can be applied to searching web sites The CREE project has proven easy adapability and now a significant amount of testing and experience confirms the operations it can perform with the JSR 168 and WSRP portlet standards and other Java‐based tools.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the work of the JISC‐funded RepoMMan project, which is developing a tool that will allow users to interact with a Fedora‐based institutional repository. The tool facilitates user interaction with the repository whilst developing content, using a browser interface, and will bring partial automation to the process of assigning metadata to objects, as they are made accessible to a wider audience.

The development of the RepoMMan tool is user‐needs‐driven and the project team has conducted face‐to‐face interviews and an online survey with potential research users. The findings from these parallel approaches have provided an insight into the needs of this group. Similar work will be undertaken with potential users in the teaching and learning community, and in administration. The RepoMMan tool utilises BPEL to orchestrate a range of web services.

Potential user needs are many and varied. The RepoMMan tool will be the basis for flexible user interaction with a repository during the development of materials; the web‐service approach also allows for the development of a range of ways to access repository objects appropriate to the needs of the content.

The results in this paper highlighted the potential value of a repository for general day‐to‐day purposes: the RepoMMan workflow tool is being designed to adapt to these purposes as required.

To provide an in-depth survey and review of innovation in library and information services (LIS) and to identify future trends in innovative research and its practical application in the field.

An in-depth review and summation of relevant literature over the last twenty years, along with an analysis and summary of the other papers in the volume.

Innovation in library and information work varies between the evolutionary and the discontinuous. A taxonomy of innovatory approaches to development and provision in the sector is provided, along with a detailed listing of the key elements of successful and not-so-successful innovative practice.

The work is dependent on existing literature rather than direct empirical work. However, because it draws together all major aspects of the topic, it has the potential to be used as a springboard for further generic studies and also specific programmes of work.

The need for innovation in LIS will be ever more pressing. The present chapter provides a necessary and rigorous overview of the necessary elements required for success in this area. It will be useful as a reference tool for intending researchers in library and information provision in a wide range of environments.

Because the chapter brings together a substantial body of information on the topic of innovation, it provides a comprehensive study of major developments and likely future trends in the field.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the usefulness of the concept to thinking about Research Data Management (RDM). The concept of “wicked problems” seeks to differentiate very complex, intractable challenges from tamer issues where approaches to problem solving are well-understood.

The paper is based on and co-authored by a collaboration of practitioners from libraries, information technology and research administration, with facilitators from the Sheffield Information School. Participants worked together in two-day-long workshops to understand the wicked problem concept and advice on leadership in wicked problem contexts.

Participants concurred that RDM had many features of a wicked problem and most of Grint’s advice on leadership for wicked problems also resonated. Some elements of the issue were simple; participants were optimistic about improving the situation over time. Participants were resistant to the more negative or fatalistic connotations of the phrase “wicked problem”. Viewing RDM as a wicked problem is an interesting way of looking at it as a challenge for support professionals.

The notion of a wicked problem is a generative concept that can be usefully added to professional vocabulary.

The paper captures an in-depth response from practitioners to the notion of wicked problems as a lens for examining RDM.