The Roquade Project. The library as a catalyst of change in scholarly publishing.

Abstract

Due to a number of problems the traditional scientific journal has become an obstacle for efficient scientific communication. Several initiatives have been started to realise other ways of academic publishing, using modern information technology. One of these initiatives is the Roquade project, initiated by the libraries of the Dutch universities of Utrecht and Delft. It aims at creating an infrastructure that conglomerates the swiftness of publication which hitherto could only be realised by grey publishing, with quality judgement without the serious delay of the traditional review procedures. Roquade offers a wide number of facilities to a broad audience, based on a common organisational and technical infrastructure. The extraordinary aspect of the Roquade project is marked by the fact that this variety of possibilities constitutes an expeditious way for gradually changing the publication behaviour of scientists. The project has been started by two university libraries, which consider it as their mission to cover the entire information chain. By reallocation of funds and training of library staff, traditional library functions are gradually replaced by innovated library functions or entire new functions related to the extended mission of the library. The paper describes the Roquade project, its philosophy, organisation and first results, but also the rationale behind the library's involvement in scholarly publishing.