Dubbed cIRcle (circle.ubc.ca), the site is designed to help store the vast array of UBC's research output. It’s currently in pilot mode but an official launch is planned for spring 2008. ...
cIRcle is based on an open access model, which means the site's contents are freely available to users anywhere. Embargoes may need to be placed on certain types of material depending on aspects such as publication dates and publisher permissions, but access for all remains a crucial underlying concept.
Indeed, many studies have shown that open access articles are cited more frequently than those in restricted journals. Also, by making their work openly accessible, authors contribute to the world's knowledge without copyright or financial restrictions. Nor do cIRcle contributors assign their copyright to the IR. Instead, they give cIRcle a non-exclusive licence to make their work openly available. Authors retain the moral rights in their works, so they must be properly attributed and cited when used by others. ...
Currently, cIRcle features two "communities" – the Faculty of Graduate Studies and UBC Library – that are submitting work to the site. A content recruitment group is busy pitching cIRcle to departments across campus. Although [UBC Library IR Coordinator Hilde] Colenbrander says it's too early to list adopters, she's encouraged by the feedback. "I'm actually overwhelmed by the amount of interest," she says, adding that many unsolicited inquiries have come her way. ...
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.
