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Open Access to millions of bibliographic record by the British Library

2010-09-03

The British Library has made its extensive collection of bibliographic records freely accessible to everyone. This service is addressed beyond the community of librarians and information specialists and aims to facilitate alternative uses of this material.

Assessing the issue of orphan works

2010-07-13

The issue of the so-called orphan works has been at the center of the initiative on Digital Libraries by the European Commission. Orphan are still-in-copyright works whose rightholders cannot be identified or located. The problem of orphan works has immediate repercussions on the digitization of cultural and other materials and the access to such digitized material.

Ithaka S+R Faculty Survey 2009

2010-06-24

Ithaka recently published the "Ithaka S+R Faculty Survey 2009: Key Strategic Insights for Libraries, Publishers, and Societies", which examines faculty attitudes towards the transition to a digital research environment, the influence of digital technologies on research and their significance for libraries, publishers and socities.

Declaration on Open Access in Southern Europe

2010-06-01

A Declaration on Open Access in Southern Europe was signed during a seminar organized by the Spanish Organization on Research and Technology (FECYT) in the frame of the Spanish Presidency of the EU in Granada, Spain, on May 12-14th. Some of the main points of the Declaration are the development of common policies for Open Access in Southern Europe, the development of national task forces, and initiatives to promote Open Access among all stakeholders. Delegations from Greece, Turkey, Italy, France and Portugal took part in the seminar. Each delegation comprised stakeholders in Open Access, such as policy and funding agencies, publishers, libraries, researchers etc. The National Documentation Centre coordinated the Greek delegation.

27 US research institutions back the Federal Research Public Access Act

2010-05-21

Presidents and provosts of 27 large private and public research universities in the United States lend their support to the Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA) in an "Open Letter to the Higher Education Community". The signatories include the following prestigious institutions, among others: Harvard University, Princeton, Stanford, Berkley, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State University, Cornell, Ohio State University.

Seminar on policies for the development of OA in Southern Europe

2010-05-11

Within the frame of the 2010 Spanish presidency of the EU the Spanish Organization for Research and Technology (FECYT (Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología) is organizing a two-day seminar on developing Open Access policies in the countries of Southern Europe in Granada, Spain, on May 12-14. The National Documentation Centre (EKT) coordinates the Greek delegation.

The National Documentation Centre launches new blog on Open Access

2010-04-27

The National Documentation Centre (EKT) recently launched www.openaccess.gr/blog , a blog on Open Access. The blog aims to promote the dialogue on Open Access, the adoption of Open Access policies in research organizations and the effective dissemination of research performed in Greece. The blog is complementary to www.openaccess.gr , the only Greek website that collects information on Open Access, on the relevant national and international policies, as well as news and events in Greece and the world.

Open Access Models for eBooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences

2010-04-14

The European project Open Access Publishing in European Networks (OAPEN) recently released a study entitled ‘Overview of Open Access Models for eBooks in the Humanities and Social Sciences'. A variety of relevant initiatives were examined with respect to their publishing models, business models and publishing processes. While OA book publishing may still be in a nascent state, the steady increase in experiments reflects the need for new and sustainable business models in HSS monograph publishing, as well as, occasionally, an ideological motivation to open up scholarship to wider audiences.

OAPEN study on digital monographs in the Humanities and the Social Sciences

2010-03-15

The European project Open Access Publishing in European Networks (OAPEN) recently released a study on ‘Digital Monographs in the Humanities and the Social Sciences: Report on User Needs'. Following the innovations in eJournals, the development of the eMonograph comes as an answer to the so-called monograph crisis, that is the dwindling market for monographs in the HSS caused by the increased budget cuts in the libraries.

2.5 million Euro Open Access Fund Established by the Dutch Organization for Research

2010-02-11

The president of the Dutch Organization for Research (NWO ), Professor Jos Engelen, recently announced that his organization created a 2.5 million Euro Open Access fund. This fund will defray costs for Open Access publication of NWO-funded research.

PEER Behavioural Research: Baseline report on authors and users vis-à-vis journals and repositories

2010-02-04

PEER project (Publishing and the Ecology of European Research) just published a ‘Baseline report on authors and users vis-à-vis journals and repositories'. The report was based on research carried out by the Behavioural Research Team from Loughborough University (Department of Information Science & LISU).

Expanding public access to government-funded research in the U.S.: The Scholarly Publishing Roundtable Report

2010-01-25

In June 2009, the Committee on Science and Technology of the United States House of Representatives, in coordination with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), convened a Scholarly Publishing Roundtable to examine the current state of scholarly publishing and develop consensus recommendations for expanding public access to the journal articles arising from research funded by agencies of the United States government.

Open Access in 2009

2010-01-11

The 141th issue of SPARC Open Access Newsletter, authored by Peter Suber, covers the developments in Open Access during 2009. This extensive report covers issues such as: Open Access policies at funding agencies, Open Access policies at universities, numbers on the growth of Open Access, Open Access archiving, Open Access journals, data, books, licensing, the effects of the recession on Open Access.

New RIN report on access to research information

2009-12-23

A new report was released in December by the Research Information Network (U.K.) on "Overcoming barriers: access to research information content". The report is based on the findings of five studies on this topic. It investigates the nature and scale of key restrictions on access to information resources of importance to researchers, as well as their impact and ways in which they might be alleviated or overcome.

Open Access to Research Data

2009-12-10

Open access to research data has been a topic of intense debate in recent times. Research data comprises factual records, such as sets of numbers, texts, images and sounds that are used as primary sources for scientific research. It is commonly accepted that Open Access to data contributes to their long-term preservation, to the control over their accuracy and the validation of scientific conclusions, to their reusability by scientists, businesses or even the wider public, to the intensification of research, to the control over plagiarism of scientific work. Further, international collaboration on the development of openly accessible scientific data sets promotes efficiency in the use of economic and human capital and results in added value services and products.

Three NHRF open access journals now in DOAJ

2009-11-18

The three peer-reviewed open-access journals in the humanities run by NHRF have been included in the Directory of Open Access Journals , namely Byzantina Symmeikta, Tekmeria, and The Historical Review/La Review Historique. The journals are published in electronic form by the National Documentation Centre/NHRF.

Communicating Knowledge: How and Why UK researchers publish and disseminate their findings. A Research Information Network Report (RIN), in conjunction with JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee)

2009-10-29

This report, published in September 2009, examines the ways in which researchers in the UK publish and why they publish. It examines, among other things, the motivations that lead them to publish in different formats and the increase in collaboration and co-authorship. It also explores how researchers decide what to cite and the influence of research assessment on their behaviors and attitudes.

Open Access Week 2009

2009-10-19

The 19th-23rd of October 2009 marks the first worldwide Open Access week. This week offers the opportunity to promote the visibility and awareness of Open Access to scientific information. The Open Access week is building on the enthusiasm generated by the open access days which were organized in 2007 and 2008.

Invitation to participate in a survey on 'Funding of Monographs in the HSS'

2009-10-16

Open Access Publishing in European Networks (OAPEN) is currently conducting a survey about the 'Funding of Monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS)'. The survey invites authors/editors, funders and publishers to estimate how books are currently funded and how this might be complemented by funding opportunities for Open Access publishing of books. We welcome you to take part in the survey or to send it on to others who might be interested. The outcomes of the survey will support OAPEN in the development and implementation of an Open Access publication model for peer reviewed academic books in HSS.

EOS: New Organization on Open Scholarship

2009-10-01

EOS, EnablingOpenScholarship, was founded in September 2009, as an "information service and a forum for raising and discussing issues around the mission of modern universities and research institutions, particularly with regard to the creation, dissemination and preservation of research findings".

Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT και Berkeley form the "Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity"

2009-09-17

Five illustrious universities in the US (Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT και Berkeley) join forces in a "Compact for Open-Access Publishing Equity", presented at www.oacompact.org. The universities recognize the significance of open access to the scholarly literature and the need to assist publishers who provide open access to the content of their journals. Thus far, universities support almost traditional publishers only, through the subscriptions paid to them for access to scholarly literature.

Creative Commons: “Providing fair solutions”

2008-12-12

Creative Commons is a non-profit corporation dedicated to making it easier for people to share and build upon the work of others, consistent with the rules of copyright.
It provides free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share it, remix it, use it commercially, or any combination. CC licenses let people easily change their copyright terms from the default, restrictive "all rights reserved" to a more flexible "some rights reserved."

Arrow makes an effort to find the authors of “orphan works”

2008-12-11

The fact that Google is already able to scan and make use of any book, and can sell full online access to out-of-print books, automatically incentivizes “un-orphaning” a work. Because Google’s use of the book generates profits, which are held by the BRR if unclaimed, rightsholders are encouraged to step forward and claim compensation, even in cases where there would otherwise be no reason to register with collecting agencies like the Copyright Clearance Centre. Unlike ASCAP or BMI, which artists pay to join, writers are essentially paid for identifying themselves with the Registry.

GOOGLE: Digitizes the whole world knowledge

2008-12-05

Google has reached a landmark settlement in a copyright lawsuit launched by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers that could impact the way that copyright law is dealt with online. The deal will see Google exclusively host a platform that will bring millions of books that are currently under copyright to the Internet.

Under the terms of the lawsuit settlement, Google will pay $125 million to establish a Book Rights Registry to settle unresolved claims by authors who have had their copyright violated by Google in the past. Authors of previously indexed works can file with the Book Rights Registry to collect compensation for unauthorized digitalized copies of their work.

EUROPEANA: A digital library for European culture

2008-12-04

European cultural heritage at the click of a mouse. It might sound hard to believe, but since November it has become a reality. Europeana, Europe's multimedia online library allows Internet users to access more than two million books, maps, recordings, photographs, archival documents, paintings and films from national libraries and cultural institutions of the EU's 27 Member States. Europeana opens up new ways of exploring Europe's cultural heritage by giving free and fast access to Europe's greatest collections and masterpieces in a single virtual library through a web portal available in all EU languages.

Open Access Day: It is our common interest!

2008-12-03

Now the dust has settled after Open Access Day 2008 it’s time to bask briefly in the warm glow of what we achieved and to think about what we can improve next time.
The best way to sum up the positive feedback that we have received about the day is through this simple fact: We asked the 120 organizations who signed up to participate in the day, who originated from more than 27 countries, whether they would participate again next year - 90% said YES.

Israel joins SCOAP3

2008-12-02

The Israeli Science Foundation and the Israeli Committee for High Energy Physics have joined SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in particle Physics) on behalf of Israel. The SCOAP3 consortium aims to encourage high-energy physics research to be published under the open-access model.

Europe's digital library is launched

2008-12-01

Europeana, Europe’s multimedia online library is now open to the public. It enables people around the world to access more than two million books, maps, recordings, photographs, archival documents, paintings and films online. These resources come from national libraries and cultural institutions of the European Union's 27 Member States.

Authors, publishers and Google agree on copyright

2008-11-20

The Authors Guild, the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and Google have announced what they describe as a 'groundbreaking' settlement on behalf of authors and publishers worldwide. The agreement acknowledges the rights and interests of copyright owners, provides an efficient means for them to control how their intellectual property is accessed online and enables them to receive compensation for online access to their works.

Consumers drive book digitisation, says survey

2008-11-19

Book digitisation is being driven by consumers, online retailers and search engines, according to a survey by Frankfurt Book Fair. Over 1,000 industry professionals from over 30 countries responded to the survey, issued via the Frankfurt Book Fair Newsletter.

Study challenges e-book assumptions

2008-10-30

Initial observations from the UK's national e-book observatory are already challenging assumptions about how students use e-books. According to Lorraine Estelle CEO of JISC Collections, in the first user survey, which received over 22,000 responses, 62% of students reported that they read online whilst only 6 % said that they print to read. The survey also indicated that interactivity may not be as important to students as anticipated.

E-books are here to stay!

2008-10-27

Electronic books are gaining popularity, especially amongst researchers, but there are still challenges ahead. The Online Information conference shows that, after a couple of decades of hype and false expectations, ‘we might have reached the tipping point with ebooks’.
But the way in which e-books are used could have a big effect on the role of librarians and information professionals, with publishers in effect replacing librarians as intermediaries between reader and content.

Australia joins push for open access to particle physics

2008-10-20

Australia has joined SCOAP3, an international consortium that aims to provide free access to major particle physics journals world-wide.
Six of the Group of Eight universities in Australia have agreed to participate in the consortium: Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Western Australia, New South Wales and the Australian National University.

Robotics speed up book digitization

2008-10-16

Again the British Library book digitization efforts are of interest. BL taking big steps towards being a NEXT-LEVEL-LIBRARY. The BL’s digitisation of 19th century books is one of many digitisation projects around the world that have been funded by Microsoft. The software giant was originally loading the digitised books onto its Live Search platform and about 40,000 British Library items were available on this site before Microsoft pulled its book project at the end of May.

Libraries divided over preservation urgency

2008-10-14

A new survey of library directors has revealed that the issue of preserving e-journals is not a top priority in all circles. The potential loss of e-journals is unacceptable, according to a recent study of library directors carried out by Portico and Ithaca. Their survey of 1,371 library directors of four-year colleges and universities in the USA also revealed that a significant majority of library directors believe their own institution has a responsibility to take action to prevent an intolerable loss of the scholarly record.

Schools encouraged to follow Scottish lead on landmark deal for online resources

2008-10-07

A new landmark deal announced today will give Scottish secondary schools access to a range of high quality online reference resources plus an international news archive from 1 August, all for a fraction of their original cost.

Digital.CSIC: Institutional Repository of the Spanish National Research Council

2008-09-01

The Institutional Repository Digital.CSIC of the Spanish National Research Council (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, CSIC) is a repository of digital documents, designed for organising, archiving, preserving and disseminating via open access the intellectual output generated as a product of the CSIC research activities.

Open-access academic articles more often read

2008-08-27

A new study has concluded that open-access academic articles get read more often but don't generate more citations.

Open access contract: MPS and PLoS agree upon central funding of publication fees

2008-08-21

In accordance with its commitment to ensure public availability of its research output, the Max Planck Society (MPS) has reached an agreement with the Public Library of Science (PLoS) for the central funding of publication fees of MPS scientists without burdening the budget of single Max Planck Institutes.

EThOS opening access to UK theses

2008-07-17

The UK's EThOS (Electronic Theses Online System) project will launch in September 2008.

Gates Foundation supports OA journal

2008-07-17

The Gates Foundation has given a $900,000 grant to The Future of Children, a peer-reviewed OA journal from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the Brookings Institution.

E-Locus - Ιnstitutional Repository of the University of Crete Library

2008-07-07

The Institutional Repository of the University of Crete Library contains the all kinds of scientific work that is produced by the University of Crete community.

New web resource for Canadian researchers

2008-06-25

CARL (the Canadian Association of Research Libraries) and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition) have launched Create Change Canada, a Canadian version of the researcher-focused Web resource on scholarly communication.

SPARC Europe seal sets standards for open-access journals

2008-06-13

The SPARC Europe Seal for Open Access journals intends to address the confusion that sometimes surrounds the use and reuse of material published in OA journals.

OCLC and Google sign agreement

2008-06-10

OCLC and Google have signed an agreement to exchange data that will facilitate the discovery of library collections through Google search services.

Federated open access repository service for Ireland

2008-06-09

Τhe IREL-Open Project Working Group which is tasked with building a federated open access repository service for Ireland has now officially launched.

SPARC and Science Commons release guide to creating institutional open access policies

2008-05-21

SPARC and Science Commons release guide to creating institutional open access policies

Open Access Directory – a wiki about open access

2008-05-05

Peter Suber and Robin Week have launched the Open Access Directory (OAD), a wiki that the open access community can use to create and maintain simple factual lists about open access to science and scholarship.

BYZANTINA SYMMEIKTA launches!

2008-04-23

Τhe Institute for Byzantine Research of the National Hellenic Foundation has reevaluated the aims of ΣΥΜΜΕΙΚΤΑ, a journal that the Institute for Byzantine Research has published since 1966. In its new form, BYZANTINA SYMMEIKTA is a peer-reviewed and open-access journal, with well-defined scope and procedures.

New directory of open access journals

2008-04-16

The Open Science Directory is a comprehensive search tool for open access journals and journals special programs for developing countries.

New video about the benefits of rights management for authors.

2008-04-02

ACRL, ARL and SPARC have released a new, short video on the topic of author rights.

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) has adopted an open access policy

2008-03-26

On the 11th of February 2008 the principle of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) signed a policy where SLU scholars are urged to publish Open Access when possible.

Harvard University has adopted an open access policy

2008-02-28

Harvard University’s Faculty of Arts & Sciences has approved a new policy designed to ensure that the results of work published by members of the Faculty remain openly accessible.