Guidelines for the operation of the publication and archive server miami

Goals and content criteria

The publication and archive server miami offers all members of the University of Münster the organizational and technical framework for the digital publication of scientific documents. Within the framework of this joint offer of the CIT of University of Münster and the University and State Library of Münster (ULB), scientific documents are made available on the Internet for research and teaching.
miami enables free access to scientific information on the Internet and thus supports the goals of open access.
The digital documents are given permanent addresses and, depending on the document type, are indexed via national and international library catalogues, search engines, and other reference tools. The publication and archive server miami offers protection against falsification through special measures such as checksums and time stamps. Archiving of digital documents is guaranteed as long as this is technically possible and with reasonable effort.

Legal advice

The copyrights of the authors are preserved. Publication on the publication and archive server miami does not preclude further publication of the documents in journals or as monographs as well as on other servers.
In accordance with the recommendations of the German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat, WR) and the open access declaration of Münster University, all scientists and scholars of the University of Münster are requested to secure a corresponding further right of use when concluding publishing agreements and to additionally publish the documents they have written – possibly after an embargo period – on the document server.
Authors should define terms of use (e.g. Creative Commons licenses) for their publication. Creative Commons licenses, or CC licenses, provide a simple way to specify the conditions under which works can be used. Not licensing means making the free exchange of information more difficult, as this legally restricts the use of the works.
Compliance with third-party copyrights and exploitation rights is the responsibility of the authors or publishers of the digital documents.

The collective order of the University and State Library of Münster for digital documents

The University and State Library of Münster stores, catalogues, and archives digital scholarly documents published by employees of the University of Münster as long as this is technically possible and can be done with reasonable effort. This refers to both purely digital publications and digital versions of printed documents.
Included are significant older holdings of the ULB Münster and other institutions that have been retro-digitized for reasons of content, preservation, or location-independent use.

Requirements for digital documents

A digital document to be published via miami must meet the following conditions:

  1. It is stored in digital form on a data carrier and can be distributed via computer networks.
  2. It is intended for distribution to the public; access restrictions may be agreed in individual cases.
  3. It complies with the rules of good scientific practice of the University of Münster.
  4. It complies with the technical parameters specified by the ULB Münster (information).

Long-term archiving and transformation into other formats

The University and State Library of Münster stores the digital scientific documents in an archive and transfers the objects to other electronic and physical formats as needed.

Framework for publishing digital documents via the publication and archive server

A wide variety of digital documents can be published in miami:

  • dissertations and postdoctoral theses of the University of Münster
  • scientific publications by university members
  • electronic journals
  • Publication series
  • Audio, video and visual material
  • Music
  • etc.

Publications can primarily be made by university members or university institutions of the University of Münster:

  • Professors, lecturers and research assistants
  • PhD students
  • Employees of the central facilities of the university

The distribution of digital documents can be restricted spatially – for example to the campus of Münster University – and/or limited in time.

Rules for Indexing

In general, when publishing a document, the authors should both create an abstract and assign keywords to make the content of the document more accessible and easier to find.
When posting documents, a Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) subject group is also assigned, which is the prerequisite for reporting via the OAI-PMH (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting), e.g. university publications to the German National Library.

Technical features of the publication and archive server

  1. The digital documents are provided with individual and permanent addresses (URL) that allow immediate access to the documents. In addition, objects stored in miami are provided with a URN (Uniform Resource Name) or a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), which can be resolved via a resolver. (information)
  2. International standards such as METS, MODS, DRIVER, OpenAire, XMetaDissPlus, Epicur, Dublin Core and DDC are used for indexing, storing and archiving digital documents.
  3. The availability of digital documents essentially depends on the existence of specific interpretation software (viewers), while the archiving duration is largely determined by the ability to technically preserve character streams (storage management).
  4. The server has a certified OAI-PMH interface. The digital documents are provided via it.

Organizational regulations

  1. The publication and archive server miami is operated jointly by the University and State Library of Münster (ULB) and the CIT of the University of Münster. The technical operation is carried out by the CIT and the editorial support and further development of miami is carried out by the ULB.
  2. The digital publication is free of charge for members of the University of Münster and for members of institutions associated with the University of Münster.
  3. The delivery of digital documents for distribution via the document server takes place at the ULB Münster.
  4. When preparing digital documents or converting them into other formats, the staff of the Service Point for Publications at the ULB offer advice and support.
  5. The contact for all questions concerning the publication and archive server miami is the Service Point for Publications.

Status: 21.07.2015