Nordbib is a funding programme to aid and develop

Open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

initiatives within the academic field in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

. Nordbib is funded by Nordforsk; the advisory and project funding body for the

Nordic Council of Ministers The Nordic Council of Ministers is an intergovernmental forum established after the Helsinki Treaty. The purpose of the Nordic Council of Ministers is to complement the Nordic Council and promote Nordic cooperation. Structure The governme ...

on matters of research and research education. Nordbib will run from 2006 to 2009. The organisation is governed by a board with members representing the major university libraries in the five countries as well as a NordForsk representative.

The history of Nordbib

In 2004, Nordinfo closed after 28 years in operation. This left a vacuum in terms of a formal body for collaboration between Nordic

research libraries A research library is a library which contains an in-depth collection of material on one or several subjects.(Young, 1983; p. 188) A research library will generally include an in-depth selection of materials on a particular topic or set of to ...

and the industry of information and knowledge dissemination. Nordforsk asked the NORON group, which consists of the head librarians of the

national libraries A national library is a library established by a government as a country's preeminent repository of information. Unlike public libraries, these rarely allow citizens to borrow books. Often, they include numerous rare, valuable, or significant wo ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, to propose an alternative. After some negotiations, Nordbib was launched in 2006 with a budget of DKK 10 million. However, it was decided to utilise a strict 40%-60% funding model for projects (i.e. requiring 60% self-financing of funded projects) and so the aggregate worth of Nordbib would approach DKK 22.5 million when leaving room for Nordbib's own overhead.

Nordbib's operationalisation of its subject area

Nordbib was given three major focus areas (named "work packages") vis-a-vis

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

to clarify its mission:

Policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organ ...

& Visibility,

Content Content or contents may refer to: Media * Content (media), information or experience provided to audience or end-users by publishers or media producers ** Content industry, an umbrella term that encompasses companies owning and providing mas ...

Accessibility Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

, and

Infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...

Interoperability Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...

respectively.

The organisational structure of Nordbib

The day-to-day operations of Nordbib is carried out by a

secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who is the ninth winne ...

presently composed of a general programme manager. The secretariat is housed by Danish Agency for Library and Media. Governing the major decisions of the programme is a

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...

composed of the NORON group (the Nordic national library directors and library agency directors) and a Nordforsk representative. Nordbib is also helped by a working group that counsels and advises on important matters. The programme group consists of a representative from all five

as well as a special representative chosen from a large, Nordic research institution.

Funding procedures

Nordbib has made two general calls for projects falling within the scope of its focus areas; the first call in 2007 and the second call in 2008. Standard requirements for projects were broad relevance for promoting and facilitating Open Access as well as participation of institutions from at least three

. The last demand was made in order to foster networking and strategic collaboration between Nordic institutions.

Funded projects

One of the effects of the 40%-60% model was that Nordbib generally only received very few speculative applications for

grants Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

. In the end, nine projects were funded and a tenth and final one is being negotiated.

Workshops and reports

Nordbib has arranged two workshops and commissioned two reports.

Evaluation of Nordbib

In 2009, Nordbib asked consultants Duke & Jordan Ltd. to evaluate the programme with a special emphasis of the structure of the programme. It was concluded in the final report that the structure had worked better in some areas than others. All branches of the tripartite structure received some criticism as did some of the adopted procedures, but overall it was concluded that Nordbib had not only given excellent value for money, it had uncovered and highlighted a special Nordic aspect of

Open Access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

due to similarities in languages and the shared pressures of operating in both small- and dual-language environments, which non-English speaking nations find themselves in. The evaluation report also reflected kindly upon the Nordbib workshops and the Turid Hedlund & Ingegerd Rabow report "

in the

The future of Nordbib

Based on the evaluation of Nordbib and the challenges ahead with regards to Open Access,Council Conclusions on scientific information in the digital age: access, dissemination and preservation
Council of the European Union, 2832nd Competitiveness Council meeting, Brussels, 22 and 23 November 2007 Nordbib is applying for a continuation of the programme. The application is backed by a unanimous NORON group.

References

External links

Nordbib's website
{{Open access navbox Open access journals