2006.10.18 - A new dawn for access to academic research in Poland

PRESS RELEASE
October 18, 2006

eIFL Open Access Workshop
Poznan, Poland, 21 September 2006

In mid-September, librarians and academics from all over Poland gathered in the western city of Poznan to learn about a hot topic in the information world: open access to scholarly communications.

Sponsored by eIFL and the Poznan Foundation of Scientific Libraries, newcomers learnt about the driving force behind open access; the work of academic authors cannot be seen by all their peers, researchers cannot access all the necessary literature and libraries cannot meet the information needs of their users. The global movement for change that has resulted from the dissatisfaction at all levels has garnered support from prestige funding institutions, legislators from the UK to the Ukraine and most recently, the introduction in the U.S. Senate of a draft bill requiring free online access for federally funded research results in peer-reviewed articles.

The scientific publication system has become a key issue for European research policy. One of the most startling findings of the European Commission funded study on the economic and technical evolution of the scientific publication markets in Europe, is that between 1975 and 1995 the price of print journals rose by 300% above the cost of inflation. Recommendations centre around issues of access, the publications market and the establishment of an advisory committee to undertake economic analysis of alternative forms of dissemination, according to Françoise Vandooren from the Université libre de Bruxelles.

Two key projects related to open access and institutional repositories were featured during the one day event. Participants were treated to the first steps towards a pan-European digital repository infrastructure from the Warsaw University partner of the EU funded “Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for Europe” (DRIVER). The name of the new counterpart to the UK-based SHERPA/RoMEO service was revealed as none other than “Juliet”! Juliet is a database of funders’ open access mandate policies and it is hoped that it will expand to countries beyond the UK.

Finishing the day with a roundtable discussion on institutional repositories, and the role of librarians in their development, participants debated the critical issues for the successful implementation of a repository as well as the merits of institutional versus subject-based repositories.

Attendees left with a much better understanding of open access and the model for a digital repository in Poland. New found ideas provided a motivation to plan and build regional scientific repositories in Poland. Two concrete outcomes were reported. A handy tool provided by the Directory of Open Access Repositories (OpenDOAR) to help repository administrators formulate and/or present their repository's policies is being translated into Polish. Jan Andrzej Nikisch, Poznan Foundation of Scientific Libraries reported “I have been invited by the Conference of Polish University Rectors to speak at their forthcoming conference in Wroclaw about open access, new models of scholarly publishing and institutional repositories. It will be very exciting to share ideas and we hope that it will lead to new cooperation”.

The month of September in Poznan is commonly known as the "golden Polish autumn", but it seems that this year, September was a new dawn for access to academic research in Poland!

This workshop is part of a series of eIFL-sponsored open access workshops which have taken place in Serbia, Ukraine, Lithuania, China and Southern Africa under the eIFL Open Access program. Participants from Botswana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique and Swaziland were represented at the South Africa event.

The workshop program and presentations are available online: www.pfsl.poznan.pl.

Further information:
Rima Kupryte, Director
Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL)
c/o ADN Kronos, Piazza Mastai 9
00153 Rome, Italy
Tel: +(39)(06)5807216/17
E-mail: rima.kupryte@eifl.net
www.eifl.net

Notes for Editors

eIFL
eIFL.net is an international foundation which supports national library consortia in fifty transition and developing countries to negotiate and advocate for the wide availability of electronic resources to education, research and professional communities as well as governmental organisations and civil society. This global network embraces millions of users in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East.