Search

Libraries of Austrian universities - federal universities, private universities and universities of applied sciences - as well as libraries of other research facilities cooperate in many fields. The article focuses on collaborations of facilities with a medical key aspect within the Austrian Library Network, the Austrian Academic Library Consortium and the Council of Austrian University Libraries. Furthermore infrastructure projects run by these libraries in the fields of online repositories, research data management and open access are portrayed. Finally the GMLA working group of Austrian medical librarians is introduced as an important forum for librarians of the spheres of medicine, pharmacy and public health to exchange their experiences and ideas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In December the higher education structural funds project (Hochschulraumstrukturmittelprojekt) "Austrian Transition to Open Access (AT2OA)" was authorised by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy. The 21 public universities cooperate on this project running from 2017 to 2020 in order to promote open access through concerted measures. Constitutive on OANA's "suggestions for the implementation of Open Access in Austria" published in 2015 four subprojects have been developed. These subprojects' main focuses are drafting an expert's report about the financial impact of a total adjustment to open access on a national and institutional basis, the extension of existing consortium licences with an open access component, establishment of an open access publishing fund as well as the promotion of open access monographs and suitable open access infrastructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Berlin Declaration on Open Access to scientific knowledge was published in October 2003. All over the world initiatives and projects were started. However, in Austria Open Access got little attention over many years. This was confirmed by a study among Austrian universities on behalf of the Council of Austrian University Libraries. Finally at the turn of the year 2012/2013 the Open Access Network Austria and the university infrastructure project E-Infrastructure Austria were started to push Open Access in Austria on a national level. So 10 years after the Berlin Declaration Austria set up the preconditions to establish sustainable Open Access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]