Building DSpace to Enhance Scholarly Communication

Abstract

The MIT Libraries has built a durable digital document repository called DSpace to house the digital output of our faculty's research. DSpace will be a home for the digital documents our faculty want to share with their colleagues around the world. DSpace also expresses the ferment in scholarly communication, and the potential shift away from the journal as the primary means of disseminating research findings. This article takes a brief look back at where scholarly communication has been, describes how it may now be changing, shares our vision of how DSpace fits into that picture, and glances at the impact DSpace will have on our faculty and library.