Cathey Daniels, (865) 576-9539
June 28, 2007
Pact to Ensure Uninterrupted Research Access
Oak Ridge, TN —One sure thing about the World Wide Web: Like the weather, it will change. Given this dynamic nature of the Web and the importance of preservation of scientific information in a digital environment, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) recently partnered with Internet Archive to ensure uninterrupted access to more than 1 million online research papers from the E-print Network. This was achieved through the Internet Archive's Web archiving service, Archive-It, a Web-based application that enables partners to harvest, manage, search, and preserve collections of archived Web pages and born digital content. This collection is hosted by the Internet Archive and can be viewed at www.archiveit.org with free and permanent access to the public. [You may be directed to non-federal databases or Web sites. OSTI is not responsible for the content, design, format, or maintenance of these pages.]
The DOE E-print Network is the largest collection that a federal institution has undertaken in an on-going effort to preserve their own documents and history through Archive-It.
The E-Print Network is a deep Web source of scientific and technical information created by researchers active in a wide range of fields, including chemistry, biology and life sciences, materials science, nuclear sciences and engineering, energy research, and computer and information technologies. Information customers can use E-print Network to browse scientific Web sites, find scientific societies, receive alerts, and search and access scientific e-prints, the documents circulated electronically to facilitate peer exchange and scientific advancement. OSTI leads development and adaptation of new capabilities for preservation and dissemination of research important to DOE.
Preservation of scientific Web content is important. There are currently more than 25,000 scientific Web sites accessible via the DOE OSTI E-print Network. Much of the information on these Web sites could change at a moment's notice. Through archiving periodic snapshots of the nation's scientific and technical information, the Internet Archive/OSTI partnership will ensure long-term stability of the E-print Network and other research collections important to DOE.
"As a result of the pioneering partnership between the Internet Archive and OSTI, we are ensuring long-term, continuous access to the growing body of cutting-edge scientific and technical knowledge produced by scientists and research engineers," said OSTI Director Dr. Walter Warnick. "Without a way to periodically archive this material, important science content within this ever-growing, ever-changing online, e-print environment could disappear."
The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization founded in 1996 as an Internet library to provide permanent access for researchers, historians, and the general public to the world's cultural artificats. The Archive collaborates with federal institutions including U.S. National Archives and the Smithsonian, plus over 30 state libraries and archives. The Internet Archive is a member of the American Library Association, Society of American Archvists, and is officially recognized by the State of California as a library.
OSTI, a DOE program within the Office of Science, accelerates discovery by making research results rapidly available to scientists and to the public. OSTI's collaborative efforts and partnerships, such as those with the Science.gov Alliance, Google, Yahoo!, CrossRef, and now Internet Archive, have resulted in increased exposure of the nation's research and development. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the nation.