Cornell
University Library
E-journals,
particularly the born-digital ones that only exist in electronic formats, are
vulnerable to rapid organizational, technical, and economical changes that
characterize today’s information environment. Funded by The
Andrew W. Mellon
Foundation,
the goal of Project Harvest is to develop a model for permanent
e-journal archives to ensure the availability of these important scholarly
publications for the future generations.
The first phase of the project will involve setting up a pilot archives
composed of agricultural journals. The
main prerequisite in developing such a system is to establish a strong
partnership with publishers and to adopt common goals and principles in
guaranteeing the viability of e-journals, surviving organizational and
technical transformations. Building on Cornell’s excellence in preservation
in general and the preservation of agricultural literature in particular,
Project Harvest aims to accomplish the following goals:
-
Foster
Alliances Among Key Stakeholders
-
Prototype
a Architecture for the Long-Term E-Journal Depository
-
Develop
Preservation Strategies and Policies
-
Develop
a Business Plan
At
the end of the planning year, Project Harveest will have negotiated with a
number of publishers over the inclusion of their materials in a library-based
repository. They hope that the
negotiations will lead to the development of a model agreement that other
publishers could readily accept. In
addition, Project Harvest will have modeled the architecture for a long-term
repository based on the best thinking in the digital preservation community
tempered by the realities of what our publisher/partners are willing to
accept. They will have developed
an RFP for the purchase of equipment and services needed for the
implementation of the repository that we will distribute to vendors when
further funding is secured. Finally
Project Harvest will have planned how to address other issues associated with
the successful implementation of a long-term e-journal repository, including
how to gain community support for the project, how it might grow, what
organizational model they would need to follow to develop the e-journal
archive and what their long-term budget plan might be.
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