Policies Tool
Introduction | Purpose of this Tool | Non-Aims | Policies Covered | Customisation | EPrints Software | DemonstrationIntroduction
In a survey for OpenDOAR in early 2006, Peter Millington discovered that about two thirds of Open Access repositories did not have publicly stated policies for the permitted re-use of deposited items or for such things as submission of items, long term preservation, etc. This complicates matters for organisations wishing to provide search services, which in turn reduces the visibility and impact of these repositories.
Reference
Peter Millington (2006) Moving Forward with the OpenDOAR Directory, 8th International Conference on Current Research Information Systems, Bergen, 11th-13th May 2006
Purpose of this Tool
To improve the situation, OpenDOAR has created this simple tool to help repository adminstrators to formulate and/or present their repository's policies. It provides a series of check boxes and pick lists for all the key policy options, which can be very quickly selected.
We have even provided recommended options for minimum compliance with the aims of the Open Access movement, and for optimising usage of your repository. For example, the minimum policy recommends allowing re-use of metadata for not-for-profit purposes, but prohibits commercial re-use. On the other hand, the optimum policy also allows free commercial re-use because the extra exposure this gives to your material probably outweighs any disadvantages.
Several output formats are provided, including: HTML (for inclusion in your website), plain text, and source code for EPrints software configuration files (see below). Other formats may follow. We welcome suggestions.
Non-Aims
This tool is not intended to generate policy statements for legal purposes. The emphasis is on clear plain language for repository users. If your lawyers wish to be more specific, we recommend you put legal statements on separate web pages. This tool lets you include links to such pages, if you wish.
Policies Covered
- Metadata Policy- for information describing items in the repository.
Access to metadata; Re-use of metadata
- Data Policy - for full-text and other full data items.
Access to full items; Re-use of full items
- Content Policy - for types of document and dataset held.
Repository type; Type of material held; Principal languages
- Submission Policy - concerning depositors, quality and copyright.
Eligible depositors; Deposition rules; Moderation; Content quality control; Publishers' and funders' embargos; Copyright policy
- Preservation Policy
Retention period; Functional preservation; File preservation; Withdrawal policy; Withdrawn items; Version control; Closure policy
Customisation
The tool produces text and source code that you can copy and paste into your own web pages and files, and of course you can amend it if you wish. However, because we are encouraging repository administrators to use standard policies wherever possible, we respectfully suggest that you avoid making any major changes. Standardising text will help cross-repository services and others to make the best use of your repository's content.
For your convenience, the tool includes an option to use the name of your repository in the resultant text, instead of the phrase 'the repository'.
Because it is impractical to cover all possible options, we have tended to use generic terms and phrases. There may therefore be places where you wish to be more specific. For instance, one of the 'Types of material' under 'Content policy' is 'Theses and dissertations". Our host institution, the University of Nottingham, has separate repositories for PhD theses and undergraduate dissertations, so it would be appropriate to edit the generated policy statement accordingly. Similarly, the 'Preservation policy' mentions 'working with external partners'. You may prefer to give the names of your partner organisations.
EPrints V.2 or V.3 Web Page
This output option generates the source code for an EPrints static HTML page for your site's policies. This will be displayed using your normal EPrints template layout. For a real life example, please see the Nottingham ePrints Policies web page.
To use this option:
- Copy-and-paste the OpenDOAR policy output into a text editor.
- Save as a file of type .xpage in the cfg/static/en (V.2) or cfg/lang/en/static (V3.) configuration directory - e.g. as policies.xpage.
- Add a link to the new web page in either the index.xpage page, or in another page, such as the "About" page (information.xpage). e.g.:
For V.2 - Policies can be viewed on our <a href="&base_url;/policies.html">Policies</a> page.
For V.3 - Policies can be viewed on our <a href="{$config{base_url}}/policies.html">Policies</a> page. - Run bin/generate_static archive_name to generate the corresponding HTML page - e.g. policies.html
For example, if your repository is named 'etheses':
EPrints V.2
- Save the OpenDOAR output as /opt/eprints/archives/etheses/cfg/static/en/policies.xpage
- Edit the file /opt/eprints3/archives/etheses/cfg/static/en/information.xpage and insert the paragraph:
<p>EThese policies on access and re-use can be viewed on our
<a href="&base_url;/policies.html">Policies</a> page.</p> - Run bin/generate_static etheses
- Test and refine.
EPrints V.3
- Save the OpenDOAR output as /opt/eprints3/archives/etheses/cfg/lang/en/static/policies.xpage
- Edit the file /opt/eprints3/archives/etheses/cfg/lang/en/information.xpage and insert the paragraph:
<p>ETheses policies on access and re-use can be viewed on our
<a href="{$config{base_url}}/policies.html">Policies</a> page.</p> - Run bin/generate_static etheses
- Test and refine.
EPrints Software Configuration Files
The EPrints output option is suitable for both version 2 and the new version 3. The OpenDOAR policy output should be copy-and-pasted into the relevant EPrints OAI configuration file - ArchiveOAIConfig.pm (for version 2) or oai.pl (for version 3). Be aware that the OpenDOAR output is not a complete configuration file - it is only the segment concerning policies. You should therefore locate the relevant comment headings and then replace the existing block of code with the Open>DOAR output. (We recommend that you back up the original first).
You can activate the new OAI configuration file in one of two ways:
- Restart your webserver - e.g. Apache. This is the preferred method.
- Run the force_config_reload program in the Eprints bin directory.
e.g. If your archive is named 'etheses':
server$ /opt/eprints2/bin/force_config_reload etheses
You should check the results using an OAI-PMH Identify request (your OAI Base URL plus the parameter ?verb=Identify - which is case-sensitive)
e.g. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/perl/oai2?verb=Identify
Demonstration
For examples of how to use the OpenDOAR Policies Tool, please see our PowerPoint Presentation.