Inventory study into the present type and level of OAI compliant Digital Repository activities in the EU

By Maurits van der Graaf and Kwame van Eijndhoven
ISBN 9789053564103

Within the DRIVER project, three strategic studies on digital repositories and related topics have been carried out. The production of the studies was coordinated by SURF, the collaborative organisation for higher education and research aimed at breakthrough innovations in ICT in the Netherlands, in close association with Amsterdam University Press and the following DRIVER partners: CNRS (FR ), the University of Gent (BE), ICM (PL), the University of Goettingen, the University of Bielefeld (GER), UKOLN and the University of Nottingham (UK). The studies are published by Amsterdam University Press, and are available for download.

The study presents a complete inventory of the state of digital repositories in the 27 countries of the European Union and provides a basis to contemplate the next steps in driving forward an interoperable infrastructure at a European level.

Free access to knowledge and research outputs are important drivers for the knowledge society. The access via the internet to research outputs such as scientific publications and student theses is getting better and easier due to improved retrieval via digital repositories. The study shows that a significant number of EU countries' research universities have developed a digital repository for research output. The study also shows that a smaller proportion of EU countries seem to be in a starting phase, and some countries do not appear to have any digital repositories for the purpose of disseminating research output.
The study concludes that more work is needed to ensure awareness of the Open Access movement across Europe and that further encouragement for the establishment and development of digital repositories will aid in this work.

Last updated: 14-Nov-2008