SWORD (Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit) is a new project to streamline deposits in OA repositories. (Thanks to Charles Bailey.) From the project plan:
The effective and efficient population of repositories is a key concern for the repositories community. Deposit is a crucial step in the repository workflow; without it a repository has no content and can fulfill no further function....
There is currently no standard mechanism for accepting content into repositories, yet there already exists a stable and widely implemented service for harvesting metadata from repositories (OAI-PMH – Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting). This project will implement a similarly open protocol or specification for deposit....
This project aims to develop a Simple Web-service Offering Repository Deposit (SWORD) - a lightweight deposit protocol that will be implemented as a simple web service within EPrints, DSpace, Fedora and IntraLibrary and tested against a prototype ‘smart deposit’ tool. The project plans to take forward the lightweight protocol originally formulated by a small group working within the Digital Repositories Programme (the ‘Deposit API’ work). The project is aligned with the Object Reuse and Exchange (ORE) Mellon-funded two-year project by the Open Archives Initiative, which commenced in October 2006....
There are many scenarios supporting a common Deposit web service, for example:
'Easy-Deposit' service. This might be a centralised, or a local, service which would be able to accept deposits and direct them to an appropriate repository or multiple repositories. It might be implemented by institution or by a third-party service such as the JISC-funded Prospero project’s “The Depot”
Support multiple deposits. In the light of the RCUK statements on Open Access, the need for this facility is clear. Some Research Councils are mandating deposit of research output created out of funded projects into Research Council specified repositories. Authors will also want, or may need, to additionally deposit in their institutional or departmental repository. A multiple deposit facility would be a significant benefit for depositors with limited time to submit material and for repository advocates working hard to sell the benefits of repositories to academics.
Support transfer of deposits between intermediate hosts, e.g. from central or laboratory repository to another repository, or to a preservation service....
The scope of this project is primarily technical development. It is concerned with initial deposit and will not consider requirements for updating existing resources, metadata creation or performing duplicate checking....
The project intends to take an iterative approach to developing and revising the [deposit] protocol, web-services and client implementation through evaluative testing and feedback mechanisms. Community acceptance and take-up will be sought through dissemination activities. The project is led by UKOLN, University of Bath, with partners at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, the University of Southampton and Intrallect Ltd....
Comment. Streamlining deposit is one of the most important ways to fill repositories and grow the volume of OA literature. This is one to watch.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 4/29/2007 10:45:00 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.
