Last week I had the opportunity to have a lengthy conversation with some folks about our Repository [at the University of Virginia]. In doing so I was able to get at some really simplified statements about our activities.
Why a Repository?
A growing body of the scholarly communications and research produced in our institutions exists solely in digital form.
Valuable assets -- secondary or gray scholarship such as proceedings, white papers, presentations, working papers, and datasets -- are being lost or not reproduced....
Open Access, Open Access, Open Access and Preservation, Preservation, Preservation.
What's the vision for a Repository?
A new scholarly publishing paradigm: an outlet for the open distribution of scholarly output as part of the open access movement.
A trusted digital repository for collections.
A cumulative and perpetual archive for an institution.
What does success look like?
Improved open access and visibility of digital scholarship and collections.
Participation from a variety of units, departments, and disciplines at the institution.
Usable process and standards for adding content.
Content is actively added.
Content is used: searched and cited and downloaded.
There is a wide variety of content types....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/05/2007 09:43:00 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.
