What is the VU e-Archive?

The Vanderbilt Libraries are creating an institutional repository, or electronic archive, called the VU e-Archive, to collect, preserve, index, and distribute digital scholarly output of Vanderbilt faculty. That output can include articles, course-related materials, unpublished research, or anything else that logically qualifies as a product of faculty's intellectual efforts. Access to individual items can be worldwide or restricted to the campus or the department. We are using open-source software, called DSpace, which was created at MIT with the support of Hewlett-Packard specifically for this purpose. An Institutional Repository Policy Committee composed of faculty across the Vanderbilt campus helped create our policies. As products of this type develop, they form the beginning of an evolution toward open access, campus-based publishing.

Why use the VU e-Archive?

· To ensure global availability and long term preservation of your work
· To create a full text archive of your work that can be linked from your personal web pages
· To make your research available pre-publication (many publishers allow this)
· To make unpublished material available
· To showcase your work at Vanderbilt University
· To participate in the Open Access movement, removing price and permission barriers for users of scholarly research

Links:

• Brief Procedures for Submitting Items to the VU e-Archive
• Instititional Repository Policy Committee Report (draft) 7-23-04 (pdf)
• VU e-Archive Submission Guidelines
• Guidelines for Communities and Collections Sought for the VU e-Archive
• VU e-Archive Supported Formats
• VU e-Archive Application Profile

Contact Roberta Winjum for more information