More And Better
Digital Repository
Taking advantage of the space provided by the FMUL Newsletter for reflection on some of the both present and future resources available to all those who work, teach, study or research at the University of Lisbon, we believe that this is a timely moment to mention its recently created Digital Repository.
In a short note of historical framing, it should be stated that over the last years digital repositories have been seen as a resource for conserving and preserving the vast institutional holdings on a digital support so that the information will be rapidly recovered and accessible at a distance, taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the recent development of Information and Communication Technology.
At the same time these repositories apply the concept of open access, with no extra costs to the user as opposed to the high costs practised by publishers in order to Access the complete text of the scientific information.
It should always be stressed that this development highlights the value that human knowledge, with its different specificities, now possesses about intellectual work, but equally of historical memory, which is what allows us to understand how we have organised and applied that knowledge in the past and how to correct errors; it is natural for this thought not to be with us on a daily basis, but the truth is that the technical and technological developments that have taken place only over the last few decades are dizzying on the scale of human evolution. There is no doubt that the problem that is facing us today involves our knowing how to critically manage the resources available to us.
Like others on an international and national level, the University of Lisbon repository is still taking its first steps, but it is already presenting the possibility of gaining access to heritage collections, periodicals, e-books, theses, aptitude tests, etc.
We believe that the development of this fundamental resource is also a stimulus to our intervention and critical participation. We can all contribute to its development on the level of contents. But to do this we need to get to know it.
André Rodrigues
CDI Library / Preservation and Conservation Nucleus
(Bibl@fm.ul.pt)
Tel.: 21 798 51 32 | Ext.: 44 172
In a short note of historical framing, it should be stated that over the last years digital repositories have been seen as a resource for conserving and preserving the vast institutional holdings on a digital support so that the information will be rapidly recovered and accessible at a distance, taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the recent development of Information and Communication Technology.
At the same time these repositories apply the concept of open access, with no extra costs to the user as opposed to the high costs practised by publishers in order to Access the complete text of the scientific information.
It should always be stressed that this development highlights the value that human knowledge, with its different specificities, now possesses about intellectual work, but equally of historical memory, which is what allows us to understand how we have organised and applied that knowledge in the past and how to correct errors; it is natural for this thought not to be with us on a daily basis, but the truth is that the technical and technological developments that have taken place only over the last few decades are dizzying on the scale of human evolution. There is no doubt that the problem that is facing us today involves our knowing how to critically manage the resources available to us.
Like others on an international and national level, the University of Lisbon repository is still taking its first steps, but it is already presenting the possibility of gaining access to heritage collections, periodicals, e-books, theses, aptitude tests, etc.
We believe that the development of this fundamental resource is also a stimulus to our intervention and critical participation. We can all contribute to its development on the level of contents. But to do this we need to get to know it.
André Rodrigues
CDI Library / Preservation and Conservation Nucleus
(Bibl@fm.ul.pt)
Tel.: 21 798 51 32 | Ext.: 44 172
