Digital resources on Open Access at the University of Coimbra: General Study and Alma Mater

Abstract

Within the University of Coimbra’s (UC) several libraries, particularly, the Biblioteca Geral [General Library]—its oldest and largest, the UC has made publically available an extensive and notable archive of bibliographic resources collected throughout its vast history and existence. Through the use of information technologies that are now available, the university took a new approach to the production and dissemination of its collections during the first decade of the twenty-first century. This measure resulted in greater public exposure and, therefore, increased the value of the library system’s existing resources. With the help of these new technologies, the university has sought to increase public access to the scientific and educational production of the UC’s faculty, researchers, and students. This effort is similar to the “open access” resources that other large national and international universities have been promoting. Online publication of currently produced research at the UC began in 2007 with the creation of the Estudo Geral repository. Soon after, in 2010, the digital special collections library, Alma Mater, began taking shape, making some of the UC’s rare and antique collections universally accessible. In this study, we describe the open access initiatives taking place at UC to advance and make available its academic community’s most recent production as well as its library’s valuable historical legacy, presenting the growth and current state of these two digital repositories.