Science and digital initiatives

Academic, commercial and not-for-profit research is a primary driver of economic growth. The research process in the industrialised world is becoming increasingly dependent on digital information,  communications and technology. The Library underpins advances in research and the transfer of knowledge by enabling access to current research and guaranteeing that future generations will continue to be able to use this digital information.

We are working with the Research Councils, JISC and the Research Information Network (RIN) to play our part in supporting the development of a national e-infrastructure for the research community.

An example of this collaboration is a service to biomedical researchers called UK PubMed Central (UKPMC), a free digital archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature. Launched with our partners in January 2007, UKPMC provides a stable, permanent online digital archive of full-text,  peer-reviewed research publications.

With an increasing amount of content available in digital form – sometimes as digital copies of physical originals but increasingly material that is born digital – a key strategic programme for the Library is to put in place the processes and systems
to manage this material. The Digital Object Management programme is the result: an ongoing set of integrated projects which will provide the infrastructure that underpins UK digital research.