Cybrarians Journal (Dec 2011)
The emergence and development of open digital repositories
Abstract
Access to knowledge is a fundamental requirement for various aspects of human development, from health and education to achieving food security, building capabilities and social structure. However, there are a number of restrictions and obstacles that prevent access to knowledge through academic scientific publications all over the world, especially in developing countries. . These restrictions and obstacles are mainly represented by the continuous increase in the prices of scientific journals, which have become the monopoly of major publishing institutions and houses, and the inability of the purchasing capabilities of research and university libraries to keep up with them. Which led to the emergence of the Open Access Movement and its advocacy as one of the methods of scientific communication between researchers through access to scientific intellectual production and liberating it from these restrictions without financial compensation and with a minimum of legal restrictions. To alleviate the burden of lack of access to knowledge, especially in mobile scientific fields, through two basic mechanisms: open access journals and open digital repositories, which are the focus of the current study. Let these mechanisms coexist and integrate side by side with traditional means of publishing without competing with or undermining them. This article attempts to shed light on the main axes of the free access to information movement. It presents its definitions and points to the most important initiatives and statements that called for it. It then addresses the emergence of open digital repositories, whether objective or institutional, their definition, types, and factors of spread. It also refers through this to Arab efforts. In supporting the free access to information movement, then it concludes with projects that support open digital repositories that contributed to the emergence and spread of the free access to information movement in general and open digital repositories in particular.
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