Recent decades have brought significant changes to the way
we store scholarly research. The printed end-product is no longer guaranteed,
nor is it necessarily what the researcher is looking for. Many law journals are
following the trend in academia and moving to a predominantly, or solely,
digital format. With this transition comes a change in thinking as to the best
way to manage the archives of these journals and ensure that there is a
scholarly record for the future. The Keepers
Registry at the University of Edinburgh “acts as a global monitor on the
archiving arrangements for electronic journals.” The registry strives to
identify and work with archiving agencies who have taken on the stewardship of
the electronic journals and serials – the aptly-named “Keepers”— and create a
network to preserve them for the future.
The Keepers Registry works with the understanding that no
single institution can do this on their own and stresses the importance of a
collaborative effort. The group meets to address the growing concerns of its
members and to help shape the vision for preserving and ensuring perpetual
access to this digital content. This past summer, after a meeting of Keeper
institutions, a plan was developed to tackle this international challenge: Ensuring
the Future of the Digital Scholarly Record.
To read further commentary on The Keepers Registry, see Mike
Ashenfelder’s article in The
Signal.
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