RE: Darnton on the Google settlement

["Joseph Esposito" <espositoj@gmail.com>]

I don't wish to take up the matter under debate here, but it should be noted
that the form, both technical and legal, of some documents in IRs make it
difficult to fully repurpose content resident there.  Many IRs were
conceived at an early stage of the Internet and have not adapted to evolving
capabilities. One obvious example of this is the widespread use of PDFs.

This is not to suggest even for a moment that traditional publishers are
doing a better job at this, but only to point out the obvious,that the IR
universe is approaching a point where it will require additional investment
for an upgrade.

Joe Esposito

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
[mailto:owner-liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu] On Behalf Of David Prosser
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 9:19 PM
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: RE: Darnton on the Google settlement

If the contents of local IRs were only available locally then Jan may just
be right.  But we have the internet now.  Local content is available
internationally.  And if it is open it can be federated and re-used and
re-purposed.  The local OAI-compliant IR is, in many cases, less 'atomistic'
than many international journals with limited circulation.

We are seeing the effects of this, anecdotally, with the offers of
international collaboration to researchers who have depositing their papers
locally, the students offered international post-graduate positions after
depositing their theses, etc.  Open access through IRs has the potential to
make research more international, more collaborative, not less.

David

David Prosser
Director, SPARC Europe