Oxford University Press - a news release

["GOODE, Rachel" <rachel.goode@oupjournals.org>]

Please find attached a press release from the Journals Division of Oxford
University Press.

For immediate release: Friday 3 October 2003

OUP supports Oxford University Library Services "Open Archives" Initiative

Oxford University Press (OUP) is delighted to announce a partnership with
Oxford University Library Services, (OULS) in support of the national
SHERPA project.
 
Under the terms of the agreement, OUP will provide the Systems and
Electronic Resources (SERS) department of OULS with online access to
articles by Oxford University-based authors published in many of the
Oxford Journals from 2002. The articles will then be searchable via the
OULS pilot institutional repository and available free of charge to
researchers across the globe.

SHERPA is a three-year project that aims to investigate the concept of
institutional open archive repositories. The creation, population and
management of these repositories are at the heart of the project. Oxford
University is one of nine UK institutions currently taking part, and
providing OULS with access to such a large mass of research will allow
valuable experimentation and evaluation to take place.

"I am delighted that we are the first publisher to become involved in this
innovative project," commented Martin Richardson, Director of OUP's
Journals Division. "Access to our online journals corpus will provide a
substantial collection of high quality scholarly research across a broad
range of disciplines, facilitating investigations into some key technical,
economic and cultural issues surrounding the creation of institutional
repositories."

"It is early days for the SHERPA project at OULS," explained Frances
Boyle, Electronic Resources Manager based at SERS. "Our first task is to
set up a server with the eprints.org software over the coming months. The
collaboration with OUP will enable us to populate the repository with
quality content. This initiative will kick-start the project and will
enable OULS to host a demonstrator system for the many interested
stakeholders at Oxford."

More detailed information about the project will be available later this
year from OULS at www.eprints.ouls.ox.ac.uk <www.eprints.ouls.ox.ac.uk>
(please note that this link is not yet live)
 
For further information contact:
Rachel Goode, Communications Manager
Journals Division, Oxford University Press
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP
Tel: +44 1865 353388
Mobile: +44 7957 491505
Email: rachel.goode@oupjournals.org <mailto:rachel.goode@oupjournals.org > 
www.oupjournals.org <http://www.oupjournals.org > 

About Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research,
scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. OUP publishes over 180
journals, two-thirds of which are published in collaboration with learned
societies and other international organisations. For further information
about the Journals Division, visit www.oupjournals.org
<http://www.oupjournals.org > .

About OULS
The Systems and Electronic Resources Service is the IT support facility for
Oxford University Library Services (including the Bodleian Library) and
provider of scholarly electronic resources across all the libraries of
Oxford and to academic users both on and off campus.  For more than a
decade, the Oxford libraries have been at the forefront of electronic
provision within the UK and currently provide access to one of the largest
portfolios of scholarly electronic resources, over 500 datasets and 7,000
electronic journals, in the UK.  The range of material includes
bibliographic, full-text, geospatial and image databases, held locally and
on the internet in all subject areas.  A strategic aim is to provide a
"hybrid library" environment that will integrate library information
services in a seamless and coherent manner to the benefit of users. For
further information about OULS, visit www.lib.ox.ac.uk
<http://www.lib.ox.ac.uk > . 

About SHERPA
SHERPA (Securing a Hybrid Environment for Research Preservation and Access)
is a three-year project funded by JISC and CURL and hosted by Nottingham
University. It aims to address issues surrounding the future of scholarly
communication and publishing by creating a network of open access
repositories to release institutionally-produced research findings onto the
web. Nine institutions have been enlisted as development partners, with more
to come. SHERPA will work through the technical, managerial and cultural
issues of implementing institutionally-based open access repositories (so
called e-print archives) that comply with the Open Archives Initiative
standard. SHERPA will also provide information and advice to other
institutions thinking of implementing their own institutional repositories. 
For more information about SHERPA, please visit www.sherpa.ac.uk
<www.sherpa.ac.uk> .

Rachel Goode
Communications Manager
Journals Division
Oxford University Press
Great Clarendon Street
Oxford
OX2 6DP
Tel: +44 1865 353388