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1) BioMed Central launches repository service for institutions: An interesting new development in the Institutional Repository space, with PubMed offering to set up DSPACE for an institution, convert content, and even host the Institutional Repository service. 2) Blue Ribbon Panel Takes on Future of NISO. Distinguished Leaders of Information Industry Focus on Standardization for Tomorrow: news of a major strategic planning endeavor undertaken by NISO (with whom DLF works closely, most recently on the implementation and development of the Electronic Resource Management Initiative work). David ********************************************************** From: Grace Baynes [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: 13 September 2004 11:15 PRESS RELEASE: 13 September 2004 BioMed Central launches repository service for institutions BioMed Central, the Open Access Publisher, today launched a repository service for universities and research institutions. Open Repository has been conceived in direct response to demand in the market. The UK House of Commons Science & Technology Committee report 'Scientific Publications: Free for all?*' and The U.S. House Appropriations Committee draft report, concerning NIH-funded research, are two of the strongest calls for mandating Open Access to the published results of publicly funded research. Around the world there are increasing moves towards Open Access by government and funding bodies, meaning that institutional repositories are fast becoming a necessity. Open Repository offers professional help to institutions to quickly and easily build, launch, maintain, and populate their institutional repositories. The service has been designed to be flexible and cost-effective. The Open Repository service makes it possible for institutions that could not otherwise afford to, or lack the infrastructure or technical capacity in-house, to set up repositories. Jan Velterop, Publisher and Director of BioMed Central explains why Open Repository is being launched, "Institutional repositories have great potential for opening up the scientific literature. Their potential, however, will only be fully realised if those repositories are set up well and in such a way that their content is truly freely accessible, which involves adherence to established formatting and metadata standards as well as linking to, and embedding in, the worldwide network of science literature. We already do this for our own journals." Open Repository offers a number of different levels of service, to fit with a university or institution's requirements. For a one-off set-up fee, BioMed Central will build the repository with open source software D-Space, with complete customization to the customer's requirements. Repositories built under the scheme will be able to accept a wide variety of publication types. It is then up to the institution whether they wish BioMed Central to host and run the repository or to transfer operation and maintenance to themselves. The institution remains the owner of the repository. For an annual fee, BioMed Central offers to maintain the repository and guarantee ongoing customer support. BioMed Central's Open Repository service will include converting articles to PDF and XML. Advanced search functionality will be a part of the service, as will links to and from databases, for example PubMed, and via CrossRef to the body of scientific literature. Velterop continues, "BioMed Central is uniquely placed to offer this service, given the company's extensive experience and expertise in successfully building and running its Open Access publishing platform, which is in effect a highly complex implementation of a repository. At BioMed Central we see Open Repository as complementary to our fast-growing stable of Open Access journals, currently 110 titles, in accelerating the widespread availability of Open Access to research results." About BioMed Central BioMed Central (www.biomedcentral.com/) is an independent online publishing house committed to providing immediate access without charge to the peer-reviewed biological and medical research it publishes. This commitment is based on the view that open access to research is essential to the rapid and efficient communication of science. In addition to open-access original research, BioMed Central also publishes reviews and other subscription-based content. *The Science and Technology Committee, Tenth Report of Session 2003-04, Scientific Publications: Free for all? (HC 399-I). Extract from the report: The UK House of Commons Report recommended that "the requirement for universities to disseminate their research as widely as possible be written into their charters. In addition, SHERPA should be funded by DfES to allow it to make grants available to all research institutions for the establishment and maintenance of repositories." (Recommendation 43) Further, the Committee said "We recommend that the Research Councils and other Government funders mandate their funded researchers to deposit a copy of all their articles in their institution's repository within one month of publication or a reasonable period to be agreed following publication, as a condition of their research grant." (Recommendation 44) http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmselect/cmsctech/399/ 3991 4.htm Grace Baynes Marketing Communications Manager BioMed Central Middlesex House 34-42 Cleveland Street London W1T 4LB T: +44 (0)20 7631 9988 F: +44 (0)20 7580 1938 http://www.biomedcentral.com/ ***************************************************************** 2) Blue Ribbon Panel Takes on Future of NISO. Distinguished Leaders of Information Industry Focus on Standardization for Tomorrow. Bethesda, MD - September 7, 2004 - With a charter to evaluate the progress, challenges, and opportunities of the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), eleven experts from industry, academia, and the library community have accepted seats on NISO's Blue Ribbon Panel. The Panel will play a central role in the yearlong strategic planning exercise, which NISO's Board of Directors launched in May 2004. The Mellon Foundation has provided funding in support of the Panel. The Panel's formal report will be open for public review and comment later this year. "We are extremely pleased that Clifford Lynch has agreed to chair the Blue Ribbon Panel of respected community leaders who will provide objective advice and guidance to the Board," noted Jan Peterson, NISO Board Chair and Vice President, Content Development, of Infotrieve, Inc. "The commitment of these highly regarded individuals is further confirmation of the importance of standards in the distribution of information, as well as NISO's role in developing those standards." Clifford Lynch, Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information, has earned recognition in the information community for his contributions to awareness and understanding of issues facing digital libraries, such as digital rights management and digital preservation. In accepting the role of Panel Chair, he stated, "The landscape for making and using standards has changed drastically in the last few years, raising new issues and choices for NISO. A key goal of this panel is to take a dispassionate, external, and multi-dimensional look at this landscape to offer guidance and frame possible futures for the NISO board, and I am sure I speak for everyone on the panel in saying that we are glad to be of help to NISO at this important juncture in its organizational evolution." In addition to Lynch, NISO's Blue Ribbon Panel includes (in alphabetical order) Lorcan Dempsey, Vice President of Research, OCLC, Inc.; Karen Hunter, Senior Vice President, Elsevier Science, New York, NY; Ron Larsen, Dean, School of Information Services, University of Pittsburgh; Sarah Ann Long, Director of the North Suburban Library System, Wheeling, Illinois; Deanna Marcum, Associate Librarian for Library Services, Library of Congress; Eric Miller, Semantic Web Activity Lead, World Wide Web Consortium (W3C); Kent Smith, Retired, former Deputy Director, National Library of Medicine; Diana Oblinger, Vice President for EDUCAUSE; Jenny Walker, Vice President Marketing and Business Development, Information Services Division, Ex Libris (USA), Newton, MA; and Ann Wolpert, Director of Libraries, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. About NISO NISO, a non-profit association accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), identifies, develops, maintains, and publishes technical standards to manage information in our changing and ever-more digital environment. NISO standards apply both traditional and new technologies to the full range of information-related needs, including retrieval, re-purposing, storage, metadata, and preservation. NISO Standards, information about NISO's activities and membership are featured on the NISO website http://www.niso.org.