[Forwarding from the Open Repositories Steering Committee. --Peter Suber.]
*Call for Proposals to Host the Open Repositories Annual Conference (2012 and 2013)* The Open Repositories Steering Committee seeks proposals from candidate host organisations in Europe for the 2012 OR conference, and in North America for the 2013 conference. The Committee is accepting proposals to host OR2012 through June 15th, 2011. Proposals for the OR2013 conference will be accepted until March 31, 2012. Candidate institutions must have the ability to host a four-day conference of approximately 400-500 attendees (OR2010 drew approximately 450 attendees). This includes appropriate conference facilities, lodging, and transportation. The candidate institutions and their local arrangements committee must have the means to support the costs of producing the conference through attendee registration and independent fundraising. In 2009, the OR conference expenses totaled approximately $185,000 USD (this cost does not include 2009's banquet held at the Georgia Aquarium, nor does it include hotel room costs for attendees and their other personal costs, i.e. transportation and meals). A sample proposal (the 2009 Georgia Tech proposal) is provided at http://or09.library.gatech.edu/Georgia Tech OR09 Hosting Proposal.pdf. Proposal Guidelines Organisations interested in proposing to organise a future OR conference should follow the steps listed below: 1. Written proposals for hosting the conference should be sent to the Chair of the OR Steering Committee well in advance of the proposed conference date; please direct enqueries for 2012 and 2013 to John Howard, john.b.how...@ucd.ie. Preliminary enqueries to review requirements of proposals are welcomed. The goal of the OR Steering Committee is to identify conference sites one to two years in advance. Decisions on conference proposals will generally be made at least 12 months before the proposed date. 2. Proposals should include: identification of venue and facilities; proposed management (local arrangements committee), budgets and financial arrangements; a brief summary of the proposed conference structure; and a suggested conference theme as well as a draft of a preliminary call for presentations. Proposals should include a specific dates for the event, and note the scheduling of any other potentially conflicting meetings within several months before or after the proposed meeting date. Further, written commitments of financial support from sponsoring institutions, if any, should be submitted in the proposal. 3. Proposals and subsequent program implementation should ensure a range of contributions from a broad representation of the open repository community. Presentations will be the primary type of contribution, but the proposal should include ideas for panels, invited talks, workshops, etc. All contributions apart from invited talks must be subject to the refereeing procedures of the program committee. 4. The Steering Committee will review proposals and may seek advice from additional reviewers. If the evaluation is positive, the Steering Committee will tentatively accept the proposal and the proposer will be asked to prepare and submit a budget to the Steering Committee. Please submit enqueries and proposals via email to John Howard: john.b.how...@ucd.ie.
