<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class=""><please excuse the cross posting></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Dear colleagues,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The trend towards open science / open
scholarship is strengthening and expanding. The COVID-19 pandemic has
made open scholarship a top priority for governments and the research
community around the world and there is a growing recognition about the
need for greater equity in scholarly communications, as underscored in
the UNESCO draft recommendations which were developed through consensus
by over 100 member countries.</div><div class=""><div class="fusion-text"><div class="fusion-text"><p class=""><strong class="">Open access repositories and the global repository network
represent critical infrastructure for open science / open scholarship.</strong></p><p class="">OA repositories advance equity and diversity, because they are
localized and can respond to different users’ needs, and they are more
likely to be sustainable and persistent because they are usually managed
by long-lived research institutions and their libraries.</p><p class="">And with the significant new functionalities being introduced through the <strong class=""><a href="https://www.coar-repositories.org/news-updates/what-we-do/next-generation-repositories/" class="">COAR Next Generation Repositories Initiative</a></strong> and the <a href="https://www.coar-repositories.org/notify-repository-and-services-interoperability-project/" class=""><strong class="">COAR Notify Project</strong></a>, repositories are poised to take on an even more expansive role in the scholarly communications landscape.</p><p class=""><strong class="">To take advantage of this moment, COAR is launching an international strategy to modernize repositories.</strong></p><p class="">Despite the widespread adoption of repositories around the world,
many struggle with low visibility in their research
community, are running old versions of software platforms, and/or are
understaffed.</p><p class="">This strategy, which was launched on July 6, 2021 with a meeting of
interested national and regional partners, will help position
repositories to embrace their new and expansive role in the scholarly
communications landscape. Working with key partners in each region and
country, the strategy will develop individualized plans for each
participating country and region – plans that will be highly tailored to
the local context and address each country’s most salient and acute
challenges.</p><p class="">The meeting was attended by participants from Africa, Australia,
Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Europe, Latin America and the United
States.</p><p class="">The strategy and plans will be developed from July–September 2021.
Following this, COAR will work to assist each participating country and
region in implementing them.</p><p class=""><strong class="">Stay tuned for more information over the coming months!</strong></p></div></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Best, Kathleen</div><br class=""><div class="">
<div>Kathleen Shearer</div><div>Executive Director</div><div>Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR)</div><div><a href="http://www.coar-repositories.org" class="">www.coar-repositories.org</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
</div>
<br class=""></body></html>