I want to add to Stevan's remark that the free availability of many
different software for self-archiving is intended to boost the OA
movement, not to slow it down !
And if CERN has also released last year its document server as GNU (from
<
http://cdsware.cern.ch>), it is with the idea that it may fit well the
needs of some large institutions willing to start self archiving in a
similar way as it is done at CERN - and not at all to compete with
eprints.org.
I do hope that more and more OAI-compliant software will emerge in the
coming years and that they will offer a large range of solutions among
which institutions can freely choose !
JY Le Meur.
CERN Document Server Project Leader ** <
http://cds.cern.ch/> **
<cds.support_at_cern.ch> Room: Bldg 510-1-011 ** Voice: +41-22-7674745 **
Fax: +41-22-7678142
On Tue, 11 Feb 2003, Stevan Harnad wrote:
> It is rather ironic that a choice between two free self-archiving
> softwares should lately be holding up self-archiving!
>
> "Should I use http://www.eprints.org/ or http://www.dspace.org/
> as my Institutional Self-Archiving Software?
>
> The short answer is: It doesn't matter! Use either one!
>
> EPrints and DSpace are both free, both open-source, both OAI-compliant,
> both interoperable, both equivalent in the functionality relevant to
> self-archiving, and even both written initially by the same programmer
> (Southampton's Rob Tansley)!
>
> The two free software packages are of comparable
> complexity, both built using established technologies. So
> choose one http://software.eprints.org/#sites or the other
> http://dspace.org/people/early-adopt.html and start self-archiving!
> (And if you should change your mind about the software, you can switch
> and migrate your archive's content from one to the other later.)
>
> Because the real 1st, 2nd, and 3rd priority today is not
> software-choice but *content*: *filling* those institutional
> archives as soon as possible with all your institution's refereed
> research output, so as to maximise its potential research impact
> http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/unto-others.html -- which
> is otherwise being needlessly lost, daily.
>
> Thus the only option to be avoided at all costs is "ESpace": an
> empty or non-existent institutional archive! The best way to
> ensure the filling of your institutional refereed research
> archives is to adopt an institutional self-archiving policy
> http://www.eprints.org/self-faq/#institution-facilitate-filling such
> as http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~lac/archpol.html or even a national one:
> http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Temp/Ariadne-RAE.doc
>
> The California Institute of Technology http://library.caltech.edu/digital/
> is developing an institutional self-archiving strategy
> for its Caltech Collection of Open Digital Archives (CODA)
> -- a strategy other institutions may find worth emulating
> http://library.caltech.edu/evdv/CODA.ppt
>
> So please do take your choice of the two free softwares; the differences
> are trivial. And then get on to the far more important part: Filling
> those archives, by self-archiving all your institutional research output!
>
> Stevan Harnad
>
> NOTE: A complete archive of the ongoing discussion of providing open
> access to the peer-reviewed research literature online is available at
> the American Scientist September Forum (98 & 99 & 00 & 01 & 02):
>
> http://amsci-forum.amsci.org/archives/American-Scientist-Open-Access-Forum.html
> or
> http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Hypermail/Amsci/index.html
>
> Discussion can be posted to: american-scientist-open-access-forum_at_amsci.org
>
> See also the Budapest Open Access Initiative:
> http://www.soros.org/openaccess
>
> the Free Online Scholarship Movement:
> http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/timeline.htm
>
> the OAI site:
> http://www.openarchives.org
>
> and the self-archiving FAQ:
> http://www.eprints.org/self-faq/
>
Received on Tue Feb 11 2003 - 13:24:57 GMT