Washington University Libraries introduce Open Scholarship repository

Washington University Libraries have announced the launch of Open Scholarship — openscholarship.wustl.edu — a new institutional online repository providing access to the scholarly output of faculty, students and staff from Washington University in St. Louis.

The libraries’ Open Scholarship online repository contains all of the electronic theses and dissertations completed at WUSTL since 2009. (Credit: Joe Angeles)

The purpose of Open Scholarship is to provide easier access to the academic work of WUSTL scholars, gathering items in a single digital place.

Developed following the Faculty Senate’s passage of an Open Access Resolution in May 2011, Open Scholarship is a further step in the university’s commitment to make scholarship and creative works freely and easily available to the world.

“Our Open Scholarship site enables us to highlight intellectual achievements of our students and faculty,” says Shirley K. Baker, vice chancellor for scholarly resources and dean of University Libraries.

“While initially we are featuring recently completed theses and dissertations, we will also add to the site publications that faculty and students would like to have made freely available on the Internet,” Baker says.

Currently, the site contains all of the electronic theses and dissertations completed at WUSTL since 2009 as well as undergraduate honors theses and the winning essays from the Carl Neureuther Student Book Collection Essay Competition back to 2003. More collections are soon to follow, says Tim Lepczyk, digital repository-metadata librarian.

Even prior to the official launch of the service, the public site tallied more than 1,200 downloads of papers — roughly two downloads per item.

Those interested in submitting scholarly works to the repository at openscholarship.wustl.edu will find helpful information in the Author Corner section, which includes frequently asked questions.

For more information, contact Lepczyk at tlepczyk@wustl.edu or Digital Library Services at (314) 935-6349.