Overview of content related to 'open access'

Editorial Introduction to Issue 59: The Loneliness of the Long-distance Worker

editor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Richard Waller introduces Ariadne issue 59.

I am grateful to Marieke Guy not least since she still manages to write for Ariadne when she has her own blog [1] on remote working to maintain.

Encouraging More Open Educational Resources With Southampton's EdShare

editor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Debra Morris describes the EdSpace Institutional Exemplar Project and the early development of EdShare for sharing learning and teaching materials within and beyond the institution.

The University of Southampton has around 22,000 students across six campuses: five in the city of Southampton and one in Winchester. It is a broad-based, research-intensive institution, a member of the Russell Group of UK Universities.

The University comprises three Faculties: Faculty of Engineering, Science and Maths; Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, and the Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences.

EThOS: from Project to Service

editor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Jill Russell describes the impact the new Electronic Theses Online Service is making on the availability of UK doctoral theses.

EThOS [1] (Electronic Theses Online Service) opened up access to UK doctoral theses in January 2009. It is a service by and for the research community. Although EThOS is still in beta version, it is already changing the way theses are accessed and is helping to raise the visibility of UK research.

Three Perspectives on the Evolving Infrastructure of Institutional Research Repositories in Europe

editor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Marjan Vernooy-Gerritsen, Gera Pronk and Maurits van der Graaf report on the most significant results from two surveys conducted to provide an overview of repositories with research output in the European Union.

Since 2006, the EU-sponsored DRIVER Project has aimed to build an interoperable, trusted and long-term repository infrastructure. As part of the DRIVER Project, a survey was carried out in order to obtain an overview of repositories with research output in the European Union in 2006 [1]. This study was updated by an expanded survey in 2008, in which 178 institutional research repositories [2] from 22 European countries participated. In this article we will present the most important results [3].

Publish and Cherish With Non-proprietary Peer Review Systems

editor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Leo Waaijers urges Open Access-mandating research funders to extend OA publishing conditions by stimulating the market.

Now that publications are increasingly being enriched with databases and audio-visual elements, the need for non-proprietary review systems – that is, peer review systems that do not require the assignment of copyright to the organiser of the peer review i.e. the publisher - is becoming ever-more pressing. Although there is a steadily growing number of peer-reviewed Open Access journals [1] and an active Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association [2], the supply fails to keep pace with the demand.

Handshake Session at International Repositories Infrastructure Workshop, Amsterdam

editor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Adrian Stevenson highlights the Handshake Session which formed part of the International Repositories InfrastructureWorkshop, at the Radisson SAS Hotel, Amsterdam, held over 16-17 March 2009.

I was a participant in the repository handshake group discussions at the JISC-, SURF- and DRIVER-funded International Repositories Workshop in Amsterdam in March 2009 [1]. Motivation for deposit was widely discussed at the start of the day. It also became apparent after a few hours that the premise of the discussions, i.e. 'repository handshake', was not a universally clear concept. Some felt the term referred to technical protocols, and some to business processes. There was a general feeling that the term might be too broad to be helpful.

News and Events

editor — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:00:00 +0000

Ariadne presents a brief summary of news and events.

Digital Preservation – The Planets Way

Royal Library Copenhagen, Denmark
22-24 June 2009
http://www.planets-project.eu/events/copenhagen-2009/

Does your organisation know what to preserve digitally for the future? Do you want to discuss your strategies for digital preservation with colleagues and experts? Do you know how to preserve your collections for the future? Do you know which tools and services to use for this?