Maria van der Hoeven, the EU Minister of Education, Culture and Science, is warning that digital research literature needs better safeguards for its long-term preservation. Excerpt from her November 1 press release: '[L]ibraries and academic organisations, both international and national, should work together more closely for the sustainable preservation of digital and scientific information for the future. If they do not, the minister fears that our digital inheritance will soon become inaccessible. At the minister's initiative this problem has been placed on the European agenda. "The circumstances under which scientific publications are now stored are like quick sand", said the minister on Monday 1 November during the opening of the European Conference 'Permanent access to the records of science' in the Hague, organised by the Royal Library, the national library of the Netherlands....The Royal Library is playing a pioneering role in the securing of this material. In cooperation with IBM, the Royal Library has set up an 'e-Depot'. This is a storage and opening-up system that automatically adjusts to new technological developments. The majority of the big international academic publishers, including Elsevier and Kluwer, now deposit their digital publications with the Royal Library. The 'e-Depot' encompasses almost 80% of the world supply. But without European and international networks for 'safe places' there is a long way to go before the problem is solved.' (Thanks to Darius Cuplinskas.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 11/16/2004 11:07:00 AM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
