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OCLC Research Activities and the Open Archives Initiative

The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) develops and promotes interoperability standards to facilitate the efficient dissemination of content. Primary among these is the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH).

OAI has its roots in an effort to enhance access to e-print archives as a means of increasing the availability of scholarly communication. Continued support of this work remains a cornerstone of the Open Archives program.

The fundamental technological framework and standards that are developing to support this work are, however, independent of both the type of content offered and the economic mechanisms surrounding that content, and promise to have much broader relevance in opening up access to a range of digital materials.

OCLC researchers support OAI activities in a variety of ways, including direct participation in the work of the initiative, as well as by incorporating OAI technologies into other OCLC research projects.

OCLC Research involvements in OAI

OCLC research activities incorporating OAI technologies

Related link

Open Archives Initiative: http://www.openarchives.org/

Publications

Sarah Shreeves, Thomas Habing, Kat Hagedorn, and Jeffrey [A.] Young. 2005. "Current Developments and Future Trends for the OAI Protocol for Metadata Harvesting." Forthcoming in Library Trends, 54,1 (Summer).

Van de Sompel, Herbert, Jeffrey A. Young, and Thomas B. Hickey. 2003. " Using the OAI-PMH ... Differently." D-Lib Magazine 9,7/8 (July/August).