Research Data Management: AUC, Scholarly Communication & Open Access

The Atlanta University Center (AUC) Woodruff Library is committed to providing our faculty, staff and students the access to the "highest level of information resources" required to support their teaching, learning, and research needs.  In order to meet the needs of our AUC community, the library must balance ownership and access. Both strategies are affected by the changing landscape of scholarly communication. 

Open access is the ability to distribute and access scholarly research without restriction.  Scholarly communication or, the ability to produce, distribute, provide access and preserve scholarly output within the academic community has been impacted by factors which include:

1. Rising costs associated with the acquisition of scholarly research
2. Declining budgets and increased journal costs which hamper the ability to acquire research created by faculty
3. Improved technologies to produce, distribute, access and preserve scholarly research at a sustainable level

For the Atlanta University Center community the library must assist in fostering an environment in which its primary users are familiar, engaged and enjoined in efforts to create a sustainable research marketplace.  A sustainable research marketplace ensures that the scholarly output of Atlanta University Center faculty and researchers remains accessible without limitation of cost to create, disseminate and/or access.

Items which have been archived in institutional repositories such as AUC Woodruff Library’s RADAR (Repository of AUC Digital collections, Archives, and Research) enhance exposure to the research efforts of AUC faculty and students. For example, the full-text download statistics for open access journals currently on the repository are as follows:

1. Communication & Social Change

2. Communications Arts Forum

3. Endarch