From: Kathleen Shearer <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2017 08:59:25 -0500

(sorry for the cross-posting)


COAR is pleased to announce the publication of the work of the Next
Generation Repositories Working Group, *Behaviours and Technical
Recommendations of the COAR Next Generation Repositories Working Group
<https://www.coar-repositories.org/activities/advocacy-leadership/working-group-next-generation-repositories/>*

In April 2016, the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR)
launched the Next Generation Repository Working Group to identify new
functionalities and technologies for repositories. In this report, we are
pleased to present the results of the work of this group, including
recommendations for the adoption of new technologies, standards, and
protocols that will help repositories become more integrated into the web
environment and enable them to play a larger role in the scholarly
communication ecosystem.

The current system for disseminating research, which is dominated by
commercial publishers, is far from ideal. In an economic sense, prices for
both subscriptions and APCs are over-inflated and will likely continue to
rise at unacceptable rates. Additionally, there are significant
inequalities in the international publishing system both in terms of access
and participation. The incentives built into the system, which oblige
researchers to publish in traditional publishing venues, perpetuate these
problems and greatly stifle our ability to evolve and innovate.

At COAR, we believe the globally distributed network of more than 3000
repositories can be leveraged to create a more sustainable and innovative
system for sharing and building on the results of research. Collectively,
repositories can provide a comprehensive view of the research of the whole
world, while also enabling each scholar and institution to participate in
the global network of scientific and scholarly enquiry. Building additional
services such as standardized usage metrics, peer review and social
networking on top of a trusted global network of repositories has the
potential to offer a viable alternative.

The vision underlying the work of Next Generation Repositories is,

*To position repositories as the foundation for a distributed, globally
networked infrastructure for scholarly communication, on top of which
layers of value added services will be deployed, thereby transforming the
system, making it more research-centric, open to and supportive of
innovation, while also collectively managed by the scholarly community.*

An important component of this vision is that repositories will provide
access to a wide variety of research outputs, creating the conditions
whereby a greater diversity of contributions to the scholarly record will
be accessible, and also formally recognized in research assessment
processes.

Our vision is aligned with others, such as MIT’s Future of Libraries Report
<https://future-of-libraries.mit.edu/> and Lorcan Dempsey’s notion of the
“inside-out” library
<https://www.liberquarterly.eu/articles/10.18352/lq.10170/>, that are
defining a new role of libraries in the 21st century. This future involves
a shift away from libraries purchasing content for their local users,
towards libraries curating and sharing with the rest of the world the
research outputs produced at their institution. COAR’s mission is to ensure
that, as libraries and research organizations invest in and enhance their
local services, they adopt common standards and functionalities that will
allow them to participate in the global network. We very much hope that the
recommendations provided in this report will contribute to the transition
towards this new role for repositories and libraries.

This was a truly collaborative effort. We would like to sincerely thank the
members of the Next Generation Repositories Working Group
<https://www.coar-repositories.org/activities/advocacy-leadership/working-group-next-generation-repositories/next-generation-repositories-working-group/>
for
their generous contributions and significant efforts towards this
undertaking. They have brought a breadth and depth of expertise, without
which we would not have been able to accomplish this work. We are very
grateful!
Eloy Rodrigues, COAR Chairman and Kathleen Shearer, COAR Executive Director


Kathleen Shearer
Executive Director, Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR)
[log in to unmask] - +1 514 992 9068 <(514)%20992-9068>
Skype: kathleen.shearer2 - twitter: @KathleeShearer
www.coar-repositories.org