From Open Access Resources to Open Access Repository

From Open Access Resources to Open Access Repository in Nepal Brief Overview Presented by Jagadish Chandra Aryal Librarian Social Science Baha jaryal@soscbaha. org jagadisharyal@yahoo. com

Historical Overview of e-resources � Mostly Open Access and free contents before � HINARI in 2002 � AGORA in 2003 � JSTOR in 2004 � INASP/PERI in 2003 � OARE in 2006 � Nep. JOL in 2007 � EIFL in 2009 � Establishment of NELIC in 2009 � ARDI in 2009

PERI � Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERI) was one of the important programme of International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) � It worked in 50+ developing and emerging countries. � It was started in 2003 in Nepal. 280+ institutions from Nepal participated.

EIFL � Electronic Information for Libraries (EIFL) is an international not-for-profit organization founded in 1999 to enable access to knowledge through libraries in developing and transition countries � Works in 45+ countries in Africa, Asia and Europe. � EIFL is working in Nepal since 2009.

Research 4 Life From 2002� Hinari � AGORA � OARE � ARDI

NELIC � Nepal Library and Information Consortium (NELIC) was established in 2009 by a group of institutions with the idea of facilitating access to electronic resources to Nepali educational institutions. � Provides access to journal databases and other electronic resources. � Advocates for Open Access � Advocates for the balanced copyright � Promotes Free and Open Source Software

Open Access activities of Ne. LIC Encourage to use open access discovery tools and websites. � Open Access button and unpaywall � Nepal Journal Online (Nep. JOL) http: //www. nepjol. info � Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) http: //www. doaj. org � Directory of Open Access Books https: //www. doabooks. org/ � Directory of Open Access Repositories (Open Doar) http: //www. opendoar. org/

Ne. LIC Activities contd… Beside those it has so far organized: • Workshop on “Open Access: Maximizing Research Quality and Impact” in 2009 • Workshop on “Meeting the FOSS Challenge in Kathmandu” in 2009 • Establishment of Central Open Access Repository in Nepal in 2012 • Celebration of Open Access Week since 2014

Some institutions involved in OA �Nepal Library and Information Consortium (Ne. LIC) �Open Access Nepal �Open Knowledge Foundation �Open Nepal

Central Open Access Repository � Web Archive run by Nepal Library and Information Consortium (Ne. LIC) � Collects, preserves and disseminates all kind of intellectual outputs such as books, book chapters, journal articles, theses, conference papers, research reports. � Open archive and Open access

Need of OA Repository � Most of the research work conducted in Nepal do not get published. � There are not any digital archiving system which are open for public/researcher. � Papers presented in seminars/conferences are equally important but do not get published. � Nepalese researchers contribute scholarly articles to international journals/books. But these are not easily accessible to the researchers in Nepal. � Resources subscription cost is very high.

Some repositories for Nepal � HIMALDOC is for digital archiving of the ICIMOD publication & documents related to Himalaya. � Nepal Journals Online (Nep. JOL) supported by International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publication (INASP) hosts only the journals in Open Journal System. � MPP Digital Repository is only for the literatures in Nepali language � Some others eg. OLE Nepal’s E-Pustakalaya, Practical Answers of Practical Action Nepal, etc. but are limited to specific purpose of their own. � Some IR of the government institutions eg. Nepal Law Commission, Nepal Gazette, etc.

National Repository � Government of Nepal at the time of Education Minister Giriraj Mani Pokharel (in 2016) took initiation for the National Repository. � He formed some taskforce committees under the chairmanship of Ms. Indira Dali for the development of library and archives. � One of them was Taskforce Committee for Library Digitization and Automation � Recommended to establish National Repository in Nepal

Objectives of Central Open Access Repository �To promote open access system �To help in finding information required for the research and study through a single portal. �To become a common central platform for individual researchers and institutions, where they can archive their published or unpublished work.

Benefit The repository in particular benefits three groups: � Researchers and students will have access to hard-to-locate research materials. � Researchers/authors will have the opportunity to disseminate their work through the repository. � Institutions/organizations which do not have own repository or archival system can archive here. � Additionally, institutions which have their own repository can link their collections in this central platform for greater publicity/exposure.

Challenges � Coordination with scholars/researchers � Awareness of availability of such repository among stakeholders � Collecting the research work � Lack of OA policy � Skill of uploading the documents with creators � Financial constraints � Copyright issues

Future Plan � To become a central platform and integrate all other institutional repositories with a link. � Set an open access policy and guideline for repository operation. � Train individual researchers and representatives of concerned institutions. � Make publicity for optimum use and benefit.

Conclusion Central Open Access Repository in Nepal is an initiation for the open archive system. Preserves and disseminates all type of research works which fulfills the need of researchers in some extent. Openly accessible to all who are interested. Improves the quality of education & research. Controls plagiarism seen in the field of academia.

Thank you! Any Questions?