CRIS-INAF as a Result of a Fruitful Collaboration among ITs, Librarians, and Researchers

摘要

The Current Research Information System of the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (CRIS-INAF) is an institutional database for the entire scientific and technological output of INAF's staff,which consists of more than 2000 people. It was set up in 2009 in order to provide real-time information and statistics on the global activity of the Institute. The system - which offers the widest global coverage of INAF's research output as compared to other relevant commercial or institutional databases - is the result of the co-operation among four main sets of actors: information technologists, for system development; librarians/documentalists, who provide expertise in library science; administrative personnel, for central and local management of staff and structures; and researchers, mainly for data provision and validation. The original design, maintenance, and implementation of new features have been historically provided by the project coordinator with the help of an advisory committee (1 or 2 members for each research structure) that includes representatives of the four professional set of actors mentioned above. Presently, CRIS-INAF is under revision to reorganize the database structure as well as optimize its interoperability with SAO/NASA ADS and with the institute's administrative databases. The introduction of additional functionalities is being considered. This paper describes some characteristics of the fruitful inter-professional cooperation which has been essential for the functionality and improvements of the system.