On 2-Aug-09, at 11:26 AM, Stevan Harnad wrote: (If any service is facilitating fulfillment in the case of the Button, it is computational services, via the IR software, rather than library services!)
Comment: this depends on which department is managing the IR. In Canada, this is generally the library. As reported by the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, over 80% of CARL libraries have an operational IR, with more in development. ARL's 2006 SPEC Kit on Institutional Repositories (by Charles Bailey), found that 30% already had an operational IR at that time, and the majority were expected to have implemented an IR by the end of 2007. These figures are obviously out-to-date given the rapid growth of OA by self- archiving. More recent figures would be welcome. However, clearly in more than one country, IRs are most commonly managed by libraries. Other management options may be more common in other countries, of course. Links: CARL Institutional Repository Program: http://www.carl-abrc.ca/projects/institutional_repositories/ institutional_repositories-e.html Bailey, Charles. Institutional Repositories. July 2006. SPEC Kit 292. Association of Research Libraries. Downloadable from: http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/spec/complete.shtml Please note that I am not necessarily advocating implementation of automated e-print request responses, rather pointing out that we might be excessively conservative in assessing what our rights actually are. For Canadians: please note that there is copyright consultation currently underway. Now is the time to advocate for things like fair copyright, elimination of Crown Copyright which would free up access to a great many taxpayer-funded research reports, and against draconian measures that will limit our access, such as making it illegal to break a technological protection measure to enjoy a perfectly legal use of a work. The Canadian consultation site can be found at: http://copyright.econsultation.ca/ Michael Geist's blog is a great way to catch up on the consultation: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/ For everyone: there is considerably lobbying at an international level for changes to copyright law, largely coming from those who would like to make as much money from IP as possible (e.g., the entertainment industry, some of the very high profit commercial publishers). It is essential that academia has a strong voice in these discussions, to ensure that scholarship benefits from the potential of the Internet, and that we do not lose some of the rights that we already enjoy. Any opinion expressed in this e-mail is that of the author alone, and does not represent the opinion or policy of BC Electronic Library Network or Simon Fraser University Library. Heather Morrison, MLIS The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics http://poeticeconomics.blogspot.com