Open access in Australia: an odyssey of sorts?

Scholarly communication change and open access (OA) initiatives in Australia have followed an Odyssean path in the last decade. The stop-start nature of early initiatives demonstrates that institutional leadership is essential for the successful deposit of academic content in an institutional repository. Similarly, OA policies from the two Australian Research Councils were delayed for nearly a decade, partly due to publisher pressure and bureaucratic conservatism. More successful has been the development of full, or hybrid, open access university e-presses. These presses, usually embedded in the scholarly infrastructure of the university, provide monographic models for wider global consideration. Australian universities are now reflecting, partly through recent Research Council edicts and monitoring global OA developments, greater awareness of the need for action in scholarly communication change Journal: Insights 26.3 (2013): 282-28

Secrets of Success: Identifying Success Factors in Institutional Repositories

4th International Conference on Open RepositoriesThis presentation was part of the session : Conference PresentationsDate: 2009-05-19 08:30 AM – 09:30 AMThere is little agreement on which factors lead to successful institutional repositories. Researchers primarily cite content recruitment and services as key factors; however, there has also been discussion of measuring IR success in terms of how well the IR furthers the overall goals of the library. This paper examines the topic of IRs and success. Our findings are based on a comparative case study of five IRs in colleges and universities. We argue that success should be measured by both internal (e.g., content or services) as well as external factors - how well the IR fulfills or brings the library closer to achieving its long-term goals in terms of service to the academic community.Institute of Museum and Library Service

Fostering Bibliodiversity in Scholarly Communications: A Call for Action!

Diversity is an important characteristic of any healthy ecosystem, including scholarly communications. Diversity in services and platforms, funding mechanisms, and evaluation measures will allow the scholarly communication system to accommodate the different workflows, languages, publication outputs, and research topics that support the needs and epistemic pluralism of different research communities. In addition, diversity reduces the risk of vendor lock-in, which inevitably leads to monopoly, monoculture, and high prices. Bibliodiversity has been in steady decline for decades.1 Far from promoting diversity, the dominant “ecosystem” of scholarly publishing today increasingly resembles what Vandana Shiva (1993) has called the “monocultures of the mind”2, characterized by the homogenization of publication formats and outlets that are largely owned by a small number of multinational publishers who are far more interested in profit maximization than the health of the system. Yet, a diverse scholarly communications system is essential for addressing the complex challenges we face. As we transition to open access and open science, there is an opportunity to reverse this decline and foster greater diversity in scholarly communications; what the Jussieu Call refers to as bibliodiversity3. Bibliodiversity, by its nature, cannot be pursued through a single, unified approach, however it does require strong coordination in order to avoid a fragmented and siloed ecosystem. Building on the principles outlined in the Jussieu Call, this paper explores the current state of diversity in scholarly communications, and issues a call for action, specifying what each community can do individually and collectively to support greater bibliodiversity in a more intentional fashion

Stewardship of the evolving scholarly record: from the invisible hand to conscious coordination

The scholarly record is increasingly digital and networked, while at the same time expanding in both the volume and diversity of the material it contains. The long-term future of the scholarly record cannot be effectively secured with traditional stewardship models developed for print materials. This report describes the key features of future stewardship models adapted to the characteristics of a digital, networked scholarly record, and discusses some practical implications of implementing these models. Key highlights include: As the scholarly record continues to evolve, conscious coordination will become an important organizing principle for stewardship models. Past stewardship models were built on an "invisible hand" approach that relied on the uncoordinated, institution-scale efforts of individual academic libraries acting autonomously to maintain local collections. Future stewardship of the evolving scholarly record requires conscious coordination of context, commitments, specialization, and reciprocity. With conscious coordination, local stewardship efforts leverage scale by collecting more of less. Keys to conscious coordination include right-scaling consolidation, cooperation, and community mix. Reducing transaction costs and building trust facilitate conscious coordination. Incentives to participate in cooperative stewardship activities should be linked to broader institutional priorities. The long-term future of the scholarly record in its fullest expression cannot be effectively secured with stewardship strategies designed for print materials. The features of the evolving scholarly record suggest that traditional stewardship strategies, built on an “invisible hand” approach that relies on the uncoordinated, institution-scale efforts of individual academic libraries acting autonomously to maintain local collections, is no longer suitable for collecting, organizing, making available, and preserving the outputs of scholarly inquiry. As the scholarly record continues to evolve, conscious coordination will become an important organizing principle for stewardship models. Conscious coordination calls for stewardship strategies that incorporate a broader awareness of the system-wide stewardship context; declarations of explicit commitments around portions of the local collection; formal divisions of labor within cooperative arrangements; and robust networks for reciprocal access. Stewardship strategies based on conscious coordination involve an acceleration of an already perceptible transition away from relatively autonomous local collections to ones built on networks of cooperation across many organizations, within and outside the traditional cultural heritage community

DIGITALNI REPOZITORIJI I BUDUĆNOST OČUVANJA I PRIMJENE ZNANSTVENOG ZNANJA

Information and communication technology has a great influence on scientific communication and work of scientists. Ways in which research is conducted have changed; science has become more highly collaborative; network-based, and data-intensive. The existing system of scientific publishing is experiencing pressure for change under the influence of the exponential growth of information production, the dramatic increase in subscription fees, the increasing storage cost of printed documents, and the increasing power and availability of digital technology. To conduct their research more effectively scientists need modern resources of digital information which would support their endeavor. Digital repository is one such type of information resources. Digital repository is an institutional digital archive of the intellectual product created by the faculty, research staff, and students of an institution and accessible to end users both within and outside of the institution. Digital repositories carry a great potential for the advancement of scientific research. Digital repositories can store different file formats and types of content. An institutional digital repository can contain e-prints of scientific papers, research data, but also e-learning materials and other forms of institutional intellectual outputs. As the number of open access digital repositories grows, it has become evident that institutional repositories are now clearly and broadly being recognized as essential infrastructure for scholarship in the digital world.Informacijska i komunikacijska tehnologija ima velik utjecaj na znanstveno komuniciranje i rad znanstvenika. Načini provođenja istraživanja se mijenjaju; znanstvenici sve više surađuju; računalne mreže sve se više koriste uz nastanak i korištenje sve veće količine podataka. Postoje sustav znanstvenog objavljivanja nalazi se pod pritiskom promjena zbog eksponencijalnog rasta informacijske produkcije, dramatičnog povećanja cijena pretplata (na časopise), povećanih troškova pohrane tiskanih dokumenata i rastućom snagom i dostupnosti digitalne tehnologije. Za učinkovitije provođenje znanstvenih istraživanja, znanstvenicima su potrebni suvremeni izvori digitalnih informacija koji su pružiti podršku njihovim aktivnostima. Jedna takva vrsta informacijskih izvora su i digitalni repozitoriji. Riječ je obično o institucijskim digitalnim arhivima intelektualnih rezultata rada koje su stvorili nastavnici, znanstvenici i studenti neke institucije i koji su dostupni krajnjim korisnicima u instituciji i izvan nje. Digitalni repozitoriji imaju velik potencijal za napredak znanstvenih istraživanja. U digitalnim repozitorijima moguće je pohraniti razne formate datoteka i vrste sadržaja. Institucijski repozitorij može sadržavati e-print verzije znanstvenih radova, podatke istraživanja, ali i obrazovni materijal i druge oblike institucijskih rezultata intelektualnog rada. Kako broj digitalnih repozitorija sa slobodnim pristupom raste, postalo je očito da su institucijskih repozitoriji postali priznati kao esencijalni dijelovi infrastrukture znanosti u digitalnom svijetu

DIGITALNI REPOZITORIJI I BUDUĆNOST OČUVANJA I PRIMJENE ZNANSTVENOG ZNANJA

Information and communication technology has a great influence on scientific communication and work of scientists. Ways in which research is conducted have changed; science has become more highly collaborative; network-based, and data-intensive. The existing system of scientific publishing is experiencing pressure for change under the influence of the exponential growth of information production, the dramatic increase in subscription fees, the increasing storage cost of printed documents, and the increasing power and availability of digital technology. To conduct their research more effectively scientists need modern resources of digital information which would support their endeavor. Digital repository is one such type of information resources. Digital repository is an institutional digital archive of the intellectual product created by the faculty, research staff, and students of an institution and accessible to end users both within and outside of the institution. Digital repositories carry a great potential for the advancement of scientific research. Digital repositories can store different file formats and types of content. An institutional digital repository can contain e-prints of scientific papers, research data, but also e-learning materials and other forms of institutional intellectual outputs. As the number of open access digital repositories grows, it has become evident that institutional repositories are now clearly and broadly being recognized as essential infrastructure for scholarship in the digital world.Informacijska i komunikacijska tehnologija ima velik utjecaj na znanstveno komuniciranje i rad znanstvenika. Načini provođenja istraživanja se mijenjaju; znanstvenici sve više surađuju; računalne mreže sve se više koriste uz nastanak i korištenje sve veće količine podataka. Postoje sustav znanstvenog objavljivanja nalazi se pod pritiskom promjena zbog eksponencijalnog rasta informacijske produkcije, dramatičnog povećanja cijena pretplata (na časopise), povećanih troškova pohrane tiskanih dokumenata i rastućom snagom i dostupnosti digitalne tehnologije. Za učinkovitije provođenje znanstvenih istraživanja, znanstvenicima su potrebni suvremeni izvori digitalnih informacija koji su pružiti podršku njihovim aktivnostima. Jedna takva vrsta informacijskih izvora su i digitalni repozitoriji. Riječ je obično o institucijskim digitalnim arhivima intelektualnih rezultata rada koje su stvorili nastavnici, znanstvenici i studenti neke institucije i koji su dostupni krajnjim korisnicima u instituciji i izvan nje. Digitalni repozitoriji imaju velik potencijal za napredak znanstvenih istraživanja. U digitalnim repozitorijima moguće je pohraniti razne formate datoteka i vrste sadržaja. Institucijski repozitorij može sadržavati e-print verzije znanstvenih radova, podatke istraživanja, ali i obrazovni materijal i druge oblike institucijskih rezultata intelektualnog rada. Kako broj digitalnih repozitorija sa slobodnim pristupom raste, postalo je očito da su institucijskih repozitoriji postali priznati kao esencijalni dijelovi infrastrukture znanosti u digitalnom svijetu

Digital repositories and the future of preservation and use of scientific knowledge

Informacijska i komunikacijska tehnologija ima velik utjecaj na znanstveno komuniciranje i rad znanstvenika. Načini provođenja istraživanja se mijenjaju; znanstvenici sve više surađuju; računalne mreže sve se više koriste uz nastanak i korištenje sve veće količine podataka. Postoje sustav znanstvenog objavljivanja nalazi se pod pritiskom promjena zbog eksponencijalnog rasta informacijske produkcije, dramatičnog povećanja cijena pretplata (na časopise), povećanih troškova pohrane tiskanih dokumenata i rastućom snagom i dostupnosti digitalne tehnologije. Za učinkovitije provođenje znanstvenih istraživanja, znanstvenicima su potrebni suvremeni izvori digitalnih informacija koji su pružiti podršku njihovim aktivnostima. Jedna takva vrsta informacijskih izvora su i digitalni repozitoriji. Riječ je obično o institucijskim digitalnim arhivima intelektualnih rezultata rada koje su stvorili nastavnici, znanstvenici i studenti neke institucije i koji su dostupni krajnjim korisnicima u instituciji i izvan nje. Digitalni repozitoriji imaju velik potencijal za napredak znanstvenih istraživanja. U digitalnim repozitorijima moguće je pohraniti razne formate datoteka i vrste sadržaja. Institucijski repozitorij može sadržavati e-print verzije znanstvenih radova, podatke istraživanja, ali i obrazovni materijal i druge oblike institucijskih rezultata intelektualnog rada. Kako broj digitalnih repozitorija sa slobodnim pristupom raste, postalo je očito da su institucijskih repozitoriji postali priznati kao esencijalni dijelovi infrastrukture znanosti u digitalnom svijetu.Information and communication technology has a great infl uence on scientifi c communication and work of scientists. Ways in which research is conducted have changed; science has become more highly collaborative; network-based, and data-intensive. The existing system of scientifi c publishing is experiencing pressure for change under the infl uence of the exponential growth of information production, the dramatic increase in subscription fees, the increasing storage cost of printed documents, and the increasing power and availability of digital technology. To conduct their research more eff ectively scientists need modern resources of digital information which would support their endeavor. Digital repository is one such type of information resources. Digital repository is an institutional digital archive of the intellectual product created by the faculty, research staff , and students of an institution and accessible to end users both within and outside of the institution. Digital repositories carry a great potential for the advancement of scientifi c research. Digital repositories can store diff erent fi le formats and types of content. An institutional digital repository can contain e-prints of scientifi c papers, research data, but also e-learning materials and other forms of institutional intellectual outputs. As the number of open access digital repositories grows, it has become evident that institutional repositories are now clearly and broadly being recognized as essential infrastructure for scholarship in the digital world

ECMs and Institutional Repositories. The Case for a Unified Enterprise Approach to Content Management

Universities are currently developing responses to manage the explosion of research content. There is an expectation by these institutions as well as governments, funding agencies and other stakeholders that research data will be well managed, available and accessible to users as appropriate. The large enterprise content management (ECM) platform vendors are evolving into “information management frameworks”. The ECM solutions being marketed by these vendors are underpinned by content repositories, promising to manage all of the enterprise’s digital assets. One might logically question whether a university actually needs separate institutional repositories (IR) systems and infrastructure such as DSpace, for example, to manage research data. If these new enterprise solutions overcome the historical shortcomings traditionally associated with research content, then what is the future of the IR? The implementation of SharePoint along with new research data services at Griffith University has been a catalyst for beginning to question some of the fundamental paradigms which have underpinned the current thinking about an enterprise approach to research infrastructure and the role of research repositories. Having conducted a literature review, the authors outline the roles of enterprise content management systems and institutional repositories in the context of strategies, processes, and technologies rather than as single products. The focus is on architecture and a management approach rather than technological solutions. This paper explores the synergies between institutional repositories and enterprise content management systems and how research content would fit within the traditional enterprise content management system model. It concludes that there are major benefits in taking a unified enterprise approach to managing research content within a university

Open all hours? Institutional models for open access

Conclusion: In H G Wells’s ‘Country of the Blind’ the “one-eyed man is king’, while Canadian author Margaret Atwood has said, “an eye for an eye only leads to more blindness”! Many in the academic community remain “blind” to OA issues and are often constrained in taking action by historical practices, and more importantly by reward systems, both perceived and real. They thus occupy the academic institutional “country of the blind”. Informed institutional leadership, combined with vibrant advocacy programmes and enhanced reward systems, is required for relevant eyes to be opened to the nature and benefits of OA. Institutions now have the chance to accelerate the OA scholarly communication process. Such “action does not require total agreement with the OA movement's beliefs and proposals, but it requires an active engagement with them.”(Bailey, 2005) This “engagement” with individual researchers in institutions will be the key to scholarly communication change

Supporting Digital Scholarship: Bibliographic Control, Library Cooperatives and Open Access Repositories

Research libraries have entered an era of discontinuous change—a time when the cumulated assets of the past do not guarantee future success. Bibliographic control, cooperative cataloguing systems and library catalogues have been key assets in the research library service framework for supporting scholarship. This chapter examines these assets in the context of changing library collections, new metadata sources and methods, open access repositories, digital scholarship and the purposes of research libraries. Advocating a fundamental rethinking of the research library service framework, the chapter concludes with a call for research libraries to collectively consider new approaches that could strengthen their roles as essential contributors to emergent, network-level scholarly research infrastructures