When copyright first surfaced as a primary concern for academics, overhead projectors and microfilm were the latest technology and the world wide web was just a whisper. But by 1994, America Online (AOL) was the fastest growing online service provider of dial up internet and the digital library JSTOR introduced a first-of-its-kind academic journal repository. Academics began to cry foul when rising subscription costs created a divide between individuals and information access.
By 2003, the theory behind Open Access was developed as a solution for scholars and it has steadily gained popularity for its power to take scholarship into completely new directions. The federal government set a precedent in October 2022 when it declared that all research stemming from federal funding should be made open access from day one of publication. This new policy and practice will have an equalizing and measurable impact on individuals as well as affiliated researchers the world over.
Thankfully, Binghamton is prepared with the right tools and the right people. The Libraries’ Open Repository at Binghamton (ORB) was established in 2016 as a place to “capture, promote and showcase Binghamton University’s research and scholarly output.” It enables faculty and students to share their work digitally with a global audience. One highlight for users is the ORB dashboard which displays real-time items of interest about readership like region and concentration. The Libraries’ Digital Scholarship Team is responsible for managing the ORB’s content. They also perform outreach and instruction duties while initiating projects and prioritizing university-borne material for digitization. Some recent examples include:
- Harpur Palate, the University’s acclaimed national literary journal: https://orb.binghamton.edu/harpurpalate/
- Local and regional projects like the Women’s March Archive: https://orb.binghamton.edu/binghamton_womens_march_archive/
- Selected Institute for Development Anthropology Papers: https://orb.binghamton.edu/ida/
All registered Binghamton students and all campus departments are invited to contribute to the ORB. For more information, contact the Digital Scholarship team: orb@binghamton.edu