My friend Heather Morrison says: "The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is aiming to develop institutional repositories at ALL Canadian university libraries. Different universities are at various stages of this development; some have repositories up and running, while others are still at the developmental stage. Details can be found at: http://www.carl-abrc.ca/frames_index.htm As an example of why this just plain makes sense for the university: at the Simon Fraser University Library (where BC Electronic Library Network is housed, and where I work), the Institutional Repository is still in project stage. Of the 4 first articles placed in the repository in the Library Community, two were articles published in journals that SFU does not subscribe to. These are not expensive journals, and the publishers are actually not against OA - they do allow self-archiving after all - it's just that no university can afford to subscribe to all the journals. By providing a copy to our institutional repository, then, we are making our work available to our own employer. In some cases, making our work openly accessible makes it more usable for the author as well. For example, now that one of my articles in in our institutional repository, I can send someone the URL to read my article without worrying about whether or not they have a subscription." ---- The Indian LIS professionals and library associations such as IASLIC, SIS, etc. will do well to follow the example of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and develop institutional repositories (or open access archives) in all higher educational and resaerch institutions. The Indian Institute of Science has an Eprints archive. All IITs, major universities, IIMs, NITs, government laboratories (under DAE, CSIR, DBT, ICAR, ICMR, Dept of Space, DRDO, etc.) should follow the example of IISc. The investments needed is minimal; most institutions have the necessary hardware and Internet connection; the entire software is free; training, if needed, can be arranged within India (there are experts like T B Rajashekar, A R D Prasad, and now D K sahu and M G Sree Kumar and several others); the most important thng is a willingness to go ahead and just do it. Please forward it to other lists of interest to Indian LIS professionals. Best wishes. Subbiah Arunachalam Canadian research librarians are going ahead with open archives My friend Heather Morrison says: "The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) is aiming to develop institutional repositories at ALL Canadian university libraries. Different universities are at various stages of this development; some have repositories up and running, while others are still at the developmental stage. Details can be found at: http://www.carl-abrc.ca/frames_index.htm http://www.carl-abrc.ca/frames_index.htm As an example of why this just plain makes sense for the university: at the Simon Fraser University Library (where BC Electronic Library Network is housed, and where I work), the Institutional Repository is still in project stage. Of the 4 first articles placed in the repository in the Library Community, two were articles published in journals that SFU does not subscribe to. These are not expensive journals, and the publishers are actually not against OA - they do allow self-archiving after all - it's just that no university can afford to subscribe to all the journals. By providing a copy to our institutional repository, then, we are making our work available to our own employer. In some cases, making our work openly accessible makes it more usable for the author as well. For example, now that one of my articles in in our institutional repository, I can send someone the URL to read my article without worrying about whether or not they have a subscription." ---- The Indian LIS professionals and library associations such as IASLIC, SIS, etc. will do well to follow the example of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) and develop institutional repositories (or open access archives) in all higher educational and resaerch institutions. The Indian Institute of Science has an Eprints archive. All IITs, major universities, IIMs, NITs, government laboratories (under DAE, CSIR, DBT, ICAR, ICMR, Dept of Space, DRDO, etc.) should follow the example of IISc. The investments needed is minimal; most institutions have the necessary hardware and Internet connection; the entire software is free; training, if needed, can be arranged within India (there are experts like T B Rajashekar, A R D Prasad, and now D K sahu and M G Sree Kumar and several others); the most important thng is a willingness to go ahead and just do it. Please forward it to other lists of interest to Indian LIS professionals. Best wishes. Subbiah Arunachalam