Savanna Bidwell, a student who works in the digital productions unit of OSU's digital archive ScholarsArchive

Digital archive ranked seventh in nation

Library's online digital archive provides access to materials not found elsewhere

By: Craig Bidiman

Posted: 3/12/08

The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities has ranked OSU's digital archive, ScholarsArchive@OSU, as seventh among all digital repositories in American universities and No. 29 in the world.

According to its official website, SA is the university's digital service for gathering, representing and recording the work of the research and teaching community. The primary goal of the database is to provide long-term access to the historic and contemporary intellectual work of many acclaimed OSU faculty and students.

"This is research that you wouldn't find using Academic Search Premier or even more specialized databases," said Michael Boock, head of technical services for OSU libraries.

SA was started three years ago with a number of staff members adding work on the archive to their daily duties.

"This ranking affirms the importance of this work to the libraries and represents the hard work of many of those involved in making SA a reality," Boock said.

Boock said the archive provides digital preservation and access to a large body of scholarly materials that include faculty journal articles and other previously unknown research or research that hadn't been catalogued.

"The materials in the archive are accessible enough so that anyone can copy and paste the information and read the materials in a Microsoft Word document," said Savanna Bidwell, a student who works in the digital productions unit.

The archive also includes materials from outside the institution in support of the university's land, sun, sea and space grant missions and other research interests.

The OSU library is working to maintain the collection in a technology-neutral manner, taking advantage of an evolving digital infrastructure.

"I feel this will benefit faculty, students and the general public," Boock said. "The site makes these materials available online for anyone to access."

The information found on SA is much more diverse than the institution's standard in land, sea, sun and space grant missions. It serves as a tool for faculty and students to find obscure references or papers that may not be available in print.

Boock outlined a report from the Land Institute on Measure 37, which has been downloaded more than 400 times.

"We streamline the procedure, so we can digitize the materials rather quickly," Boock said.

Members of the faculty who are interested in submitting to the archive are encouraged to contact Boock. Students are encouraged to contact their department advisors before submitting.

For more information on ScholarsArchive@OSU, visit: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu.

Craig Bidiman, senior reporter

news@dailybarometer.com, 737-2231