| Abstract: | A study carried out for the UK Joint Information Systems Committee examined models for the provision of access to material in institutional and subject‐based archives and in open access journals. Their relative merits were considered, addressing not only technical concerns but also how e‐print provision (by authors) can be achieved – an essential factor for an effective e‐print delivery service (for users). A ‘harvesting’ model is recommended, where the metadata of articles deposited in distributed archives are harvested, stored and enhanced by a national service. This model has major advantages over the alternatives of a national centralized service or a completely decentralized one. Options for the implementation of a service based on the harvesting model are presented. |
