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December 02, 2008
Harvard's Open Access Mandate
In the November 21, 2008 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education, there is a diverse article on some current issues in Scholarly Communication, found here: http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i13/13a00801.htm. Among the issues discussed is that of Harvard University's role of establishing a precedent for creating an institutional open-access mandate. In February, Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences voted to "adopt an open-access requirement, requiring faculty members to deposit copies of journal articles in a new university repository."
The new repository, still in beta-testing, is to be called Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard, or DASH. As is the case for the new NIH mandate, it has become essential for the University to get the word out to faculty and help them understand how to be in compliance. Harvard has established an Office of Scholarly Communication to work as a liaison in this regard. As there is much confusion and controversy surrounding the issue of publishing in IR's, it is smart to have this type of body. I would be curious to know how the faculty at Harvard are responding to this new mandate. Overall, it is great to see such a high-profile university taking a lead in open access, particularly Harvard, who tend to set the standards in this country for academia.
Published by Greg Hall for IS 560 Development and Management of Collection
Posted by colldev at December 2, 2008 01:37 PM