EPrints, the open-source archiving software project from Southampton University, has launched EPrints Services. From the web site:
Many institutions do not have the resources necessary to build or maintain an institutional repository. The EPrints Services team offers a complete range of advice and consultancy to support institutions who have adopted, or who are looking to adopt, the EPrints solution. We can provide as much or as little support as you need to create and maintain a professional repository....From training through policy formulation to a complete build-and-host solution, our team of experts will ensure your EPrints repository becomes an effective information resource that reflects positively on your institution. We can help you by: [1] Training IT or library personnel to set up and run your repository, [2] Advising on policy matters, such as how to develop your institutional archiving policy, [3] Importing your legacy archives, [4] Customising the repository to your specifications, [5] Hosting and maintaining your repository, [6] Assisting with advocacy and promotion of the repository within your institution, [7] Providing ongoing technical support.
Quoting EPrints Technical Director Les Carr from today's press release:
The launch of EPrints Services is particularly timely. In the UK, the Research Councils (RCUK) have announced that all research council-funded research must henceforth be placed in an institutional repository. Around the world, the success of the open access movement is ensuring that academics and universities want or, increasingly, are required, to make their research universally accessible to the wider community. EPrints provides the original solution for institutional repositories. Now our wide-ranging experience and expertise gained over the years is being channelled into EPrints Services to ensure that new repositories are constructed to suit their institutions, and with appropriate policy and support systems designed as part of the package. We know that IRs increase citations and impact, and can therefore add powerful weight to research status and grant applications. They also enable data-sharing and enhance research opportunities, as well as accelerating the research cycle. But every institution is unique and EPrints Services will ensure that these special features can be translated into a repository that best mirrors the institution.
NB: The EPrints software is still free and open-source, and will remain so. Only the optional consulting services come with a fee.
Posted by
Peter Suber at 9/28/2005 10:37:00 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.
