DRIVER: two press releases

[Sophia Jones <Sophia.Jones@nottingham.ac.uk>]

***Apologies for cross posting***

DRIVER Comments on EC Green Paper "Copyright in the Knowledge 
Economy"

DRIVER - the Digital Repository Infrastructure Vision for 
European Research - aims to enhance the dissemination of 
scholarly works by developing and sustaining a pan-European 
infrastructure for digital repositories.  DRIVER has established 
a community of Open Access repositories including textual 
research papers and other scholarly publications.

The European Commission called for comments on its Green Paper on 
Copyright in the Knowledge Economy, asking whether the scientific 
and research community should enter into licensing schemes with 
publishers in order to increase access to works for teaching or 
research purposes. Examples of successful licensing schemes were 
queried, enabling online use of works for teaching or research 
purposes.

The call for comments is part of a consultation process. In 
response, the DRIVER consortium has set out a number of reasons 
why the scientific and research community should aim to increase 
its influence on the development and adoption of alternative 
licensing schemes. Details of the DRIVER comments are available 
at http://www.driver-support.eu/newsevents.php.

****

DRIVER is pleased to announce the release of the DRIVER Mentor 
Service.

The distribution of repositories across Europe varies greatly. 
While some countries have well-developed and supported repository 
communities, others have little or no formal means of 
communication or support for repository managers.

Developing an open access repository can raise many questions. 
The staff of existing repositories have found that it is very 
useful to be able to talk through issues with their peers and 
exchange ideas, experiences, and solutions. The DRIVER Mentor 
Service introduces developers and managers of repositories to 
each other with the aim of sharing experience and best practice 
within the repository community. We hope that everybody will be 
able to benefit from the service -- both mentors and mentees! -- 
with the aim of creating a helpful and collaborative community of 
professionals across Europe.

If you would like to be put in touch with a mentor, or would like 
to register to be able to share your experiences with others, 
then visit the Mentor Service webpage and tutorial to learn more 
about this facility at http://www.driver-support.eu/mentor.html.

****