Biblioteca d'Alessandria: a new technical and business model for Open Repositories creating software

Massimiliano Simoncini
Simmaco s.a.s., Bologna, Italy

Silvana Mangiaracina
CNR, Biblioteca d'area Bologna, Dipartimento Scienza del Mare

Alessandro Tugnoli
CNR, Biblioteca d'area Bologna, Dipartimento Scienza del Mare

Alessandro-Yoshi Polliotti
CNR, Biblioteca d'area Bologna, Dipartimento Scienza del Mare

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     Last modified: October 3, 2005

Abstract
Bibliteca d'Alessandria is a project, born and developped inside ENEA and CNR,
based on the idea of applying a peer to peer network to the diffusion of
scientific knowledge. The system created allows to build OAI-PMH compliant
Open Repositories of any size, from the single-researcher self-archived and
self-managed shelf to the Institutional Repository of a big University,
structured whith groups and areas of internal sharing and administrators
allowed to manage external and OAI visibility.

The project encompasses four different products, each one targeted at different
users: the researchers, small (like single university departments) and large
research institutions, small and medium publishers, general companies.

The focus of all products is on extremisation of installation, use and maintenance simplicity, richness of value-adding services, economical affordability, use of effective marketing strategies in order to reach the maximum diffusion of the system. The major achievement in those issues is a software that can be installed in a simple pc in very few minutes by any non-specialised, non-tutored person, and that can be then managed by "normal", technically unlearned persons, much likely any common pc software.
The time needed to configurate the system and actually create the archive
depends on the complexity of the archive, and can vary from few minutes to
some hours.

A detailed and quite innovating business model is beeing applied to the
products, with the aim of sustaining and propelling the project by business
revenues. A careful study of giuridical issues has been (and is being) made, and the project of a compelling DRM system ha been made. The paper analises the principal elements of the projects, the main actual practical achievements and the next steps.