...The UNH library is in the process of creating a digital collection to provide patrons ready access to unique material. The library's local digital initiative was expanded through a partnership with the Open Content Alliance and the Boston Library Consortium, of which UNH is one of the19 members.
"We send the items to the Boston Public Library, where the scanning center is set up," says Sherry Vellucci, dean of the Dimond Library. "We send physical copies and they give us digital copies for our online collections and deposit a copy in the Internet Archive, which provides national and international exposure to our digitized materials." ...
At the same time, the UNH library, along with the consortium, is looking at the issue of open access to information in the public domain....The concern is how to ensure, in this age of digitization, that works remain open to everyone and aren't restricted by Internet companies that require the use of their own proprietary search engines, or may charge for access down the road....
"It costs UNH a lot of money to access the research subsidized by UNH and the government [and published in subscription journals]," Vellucci says. "We spend close to $1 million a year on one vendor alone. One journal can be $30,000 a year...."
In February, the faculty at Harvard University adopted a policy mandating that the faculty deposit their scholarly articles in an open-access repository to be made available to the public. Dozens of universities around the country are doing the same. Vellucci is leading the campuswide initiative at UNH.
"We're in the planning stages," Vellucci says. "We're trying to get authors to be savvy enough not to relinquish their rights to publishers. That's part of the reason for an institutional repository."
The repository could be up and running by next year depending on funding. Vellucci is working with the Faculty Senate Library Committee to put together a symposium on open access to be held at UNH next spring....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 10/17/2008 08:39:00 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.
