Institutional Repositories and the Principle of Open Access: Changing the Way We Think about Legal Scholarship

Institutional Repositories and the Principle of Open Access: Changing the Way We Think about Legal Scholarship

Web archiving

Institutional repositories resemble archives in that they store, preserve in perpetuity, and index their holdings. They thereby require a similar approach to building and maintaining their collections. Additionally, institutional repositories increasingly publish a variety of scholarly works produced by the members of their institution. In this article, Carol Parker discusses the rationale for developing in-house repositories for law schools, emphasizing the impact institutional repositories have on scholarly publications. Following a detailed history and summary of the open access movement with copious notes and legal references, Parker argues that authors’ rights and income received by both authors and publishers do not suffer by in-house storage and publication. Readership increases and despite concern for reduced peer review and loss of quality control, she cites the precedence and success of the scientific and social science community’s embrace of self-archiving and dependence on institutional repositories.

Parker acknowledges the initial amount of time and considerable investment required for developing a repository in accordance with the Open Archive Initiative has deterred many institutions from developing in-house repositories. She also cites several benefits for using proprietary software or hosting commercially based repositories that facilitate access to a wide network of scholarly publications. However, Parker also avers that ensuring authors’ control and extending the repository to include multimedia and unpublished works can best be achieved by institutional repositories.

Parker, Carole A.

University of New Mexico

2007

Polk, Victoria

1999-2014 bepress™

Journal Article

Parker, Carol A.  "Institutional Repositories and the Principle of Open Access: Changing the Way We Think about Legal Scholarship" New Mexico Law Review 37, 2. (2007):431-478. http://works.bepress.com/carol_parker/1/