I’m glad to announce that the Repository UM team at Minho University has finished the development of a new Add-on to DSpace, that we called “Request Copy” (but others may call “Request Eprint” or “Email Eprint”, etc.). This first version of the Add-on (see description below) is available [here]. As we plan to release a new version...in the coming weeks, we will welcome comments and suggestions from early adopters or testers. Please send your comments and suggestions to: repositorium@sdum.uminho.pt.
What is the DSpace Request Copy Add-on?
It was recently suggested by Stevan Harnad that we develop a "request eprint by email" feature for DSpace, similar to one that has recently been implemented in GNU Eprints for deposits whose full-text access privileges are set to Restricted Access (RA) rather than Open Access (OA), in order to tide over any RA period with facilitated email access. The Request Copy Add-on is this feature developed for DSpace 1.3.2. The purpose of this feature is to increase both the content deposited in Institutional Repositories (IRs) and its immediate usability by providing a way to accommodate the (frequently unfounded) worries of authors and their institutions about copyright infringement during any publisher embargo periods on public self-archiving, by creating a semi-automated mechanism whereby would-be users can request and authors can email an individual copy of a full-text deposited with access set as RA. This feature will be very important for advancing OA if universities and other research institutions adopt the Generic Model for an Open-Access Self-Archiving Mandate. In this model, depositing immediately (upon acceptance for publication) is mandatory whereas setting deposit immediately to OA is merely encourages, leaving the decision up to the author.
PS: See my comment on the same innovation in Eprints. I'm delighted that both the leading archiving packages now offer this feature.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/12/2006 10:38:00 PM.
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.
