Project Concept
Project perspectiveThe main task of the Russian Resource Center for Case Studies (further – the Center) is to function as centralized database of Russian case studies. Case studies collection is formed by individual authors and educational institutions whishing to be the participants of the project to create the Center. As soon as the case is registered the Center it will be included into the catalogue distributed on a regular basis (as a rule, once every three months) and available in the Internet. The following are the case-writing and case registration procedures allowing to assess possibilities of cooperation.
Project participants
The center cooperates with organizations case copyright holders (i. e. educational institutions, publishing houses, periodicals, consulting firms). The cooperation involves interchange of case studies to be used in teaching. Mutual relations are regulated by the Agreement defining the frameworks, limitations and conditions of cooperation.
Cases authors
The Center enters into license agreements with the authors of the cases. These agreements regulate the set of rights the authors consider it possible to transfer to the Center, in particular right to:
- store electronic version of the case in the database;
- include titles and descriptions of the cases into the catalogue regularly published and distributed by the Center;
- post in the Internet descriptions (synopsis) of the case;
- provide on-line access to the text of the case for the Center’s users (the text being protected from copying and provided with special watermarks to avoid unauthorized distribution, for example, in a classroom).
- use either electronic or paper-based version of the case by the Center’s users in teaching.
The author reserves all the rights to alternative publication and distribution of the case in periodicals, collections or registration in other databases, including foreign ones. The authors are also sent visiting and order statistics of their cases.
After signing the license agreement the authors shall send (submit on magnetic or digital carriers) electronic version of the case. The center will then assign the number and render the case compliant with the required standards, proof-read and copy-edit, if necessary, and post the final version on the server. The same procedure is provided for teaching notes and additional materials. The abstract and synopsis of the case are sent to the Center’s users.
Center’s users
The users may include:
- authors of the cases registered with the database;
- faculty members of educational institutions – participants of the project as well as teaching staff of other educational institutions wishing to use the cases in their teaching;
- authorized representatives of organizations-participants to the project: periodicals, publishing houses, consulting firms, etc.
The Center’s user has access to the database materials and may search for the materials he needs. The user has a possibility to view full-text versions of the cases contained in the database as well as to order the suitable materials. The only and main restriction to use the obtained materials is the purpose of the usage – cases may be used exclusively for teaching purposes. Users are responsible for complying with this requirement. Every user shall enter into the contract on information services – an agreement governing the access to and use of materials procedures. Every Center’ user shall have personal identification, so the person wishing to be a Center’ user shall fill in the on-line form entering his name, place of work, contact information. One of the most important information to be entered into the registration form is an e-mail address posted on the Web site of the employing organization. After establishing contact with the applicant, the contract on information services will be entered into.
Use of the materials
Under the agreement entered into, the Center’s user may search for required materials, view and order them. During the preview the documents are displayed in full author version which makes it possible to understand whether the case suits particular teaching purpose, the case being protected from unauthorized copying with special marking. Non-marked version of the case may be obtained only by ordering it. To order the case a special on-line order form is used. In any case it is impossible to make changes in the document.