local/distributed vs global/unified archives

[Atanu Garai <atanugarai.lists@gmail.com>]

Apologies for cross posting. This question is for research 
purpose only. The views expressed here are that of author's own 
and do not anyway represent organizational views and standpoints.

Dear Colleagues:

This question is very basic. Institutions all over the world are 
developing their own repositories to archive papers written by 
staffs. On the other hand, it is very much feasible to develop 
thematic and consortia repositories wherein authors all over the 
world can archive their papers very easily. Both the approaches 
have their own pros and cons. However, having few big thematic 
(e.g. subject based) and/or consortia (e.g. Indian universities 
archive) repositories is more advantageous than maintaining 
hundreds of thousands small IRs, taking cost, management, 
infrastructure and technology considerations.

Moreover, knowledge sharing and preservation becomes easier 
across the participating individuals and institutions in large 
IRs. If this advantages are so obvious, it is not understandable 
why there is so much advocacy for building IRs in all 
institutions? Thank you for reflecting on this issue. Best

Atanu Garai
Online Networking Specialist
Globethics.net
International Secretariat
150, route de Ferney
CH-1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland
Tel: 41.22791.6249/67
Fax: 41.22710.2386