Thursday, December 23, 2004

Southampton ePrints--Faculty Research Papers Online This news item points to the information richness that is emerging as universities around the world begin to make research papers by their faculties directly available to anyone with an Internet connection. "An e-Print archive is an internet based repository of such digital scholarly publications which can provide immediate and free worldwide access benefiting both author and reader. The service provides a simple mechanism for enabling researchers to deposit the full text of their work (self-archiving) or to give it to the central service to deposit for them (assisted archiving). It offers advice and guidance on issues such as metadata, formats and copyright. It will aim to ensure the quality of the metadata being added. It provides a complementary service to traditional catalogues and learning resources. An e-Print archive is an internet based repository of such digital scholarly publications which can provide immediate and free worldwide access benefiting both author and reader. The service provides a simple mechanism for enabling researchers to deposit the full text of their work (self-archiving) or to give it to the central service to deposit for them (assisted archiving). It offers advice and guidance on issues such as metadata, formats and copyright. It will aim to ensure the quality of the metadata being added. It provides a complementary service to traditional catalogues and learning resources." ___JH Southampton offers free online access to all research. Via JISC News we learn that the University of Southampton is to provide core funding for its institutional repository and as the items suggests "marking a new era for Open Access to academic research in the UK." Southampton are to be applauded for their leadership in this regard and it will be interesting to see how quickly others can follow. [Auricle] 8:46:42 AM    COMMENT []