User:Filippo Morsiani/Open access in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Open Access in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Bosnia and Herzegovina has 8 universities where 90% of research takes place, largely funded by government. The Electronic Information Consortium of Bosnia and Herzegovina is a 64-member organisation representing university, public, national, special and non-governmental organization libraries. It has a partnership with Electronic Information for Libraries.

As of August 2015, there are 19 open access journals published in Bosnia and Herzegovina which are indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals. Open access digital institutional repositories are registered in OpenDOAR: The Digital Repository of the University of Tuzla and E-theses of the University of Tuzla.

Enabling environment
COBISS.Net, the cooperative systems of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Montenegro is the platform for the virtual library of Bosnia and Herzegovina with 41 participating libraries.

Major projects and initiatives
COBISS.Net is an important initiative in extending online access to information.

Electronic Information Consortium of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Overview: A consortium of 73 libraries with Electronic Information for Libraries membership, the Electronic Information Consortium of Bosnia and Herzegovina aims to improve access to electronic and other information in libraries in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as sharing resources among members, through cooperative work of the consortium, is the welfare of all members and their beneficiaries. EICBIH offers access to global databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, Emerald, and the EBSCO Information Services research database.

Virtual Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina Centre
Overview: The centre plans and coordinates activities related to the computerised interconnection of libraries in Bosnia and Herzegovina; provides COBISS software and manuals for shared cataloguing, local library functions and other services; manages the COBIB.SR shared bibliographic database and the COBISS.BH system; provides professional help to libraries with the acquisition, installation and maintenance of computer equipment; organises and carries out training for and offers professional help to libraries and other COBISS software and service users; provides and maintains common computer and communications capacities for the operation of the system and central service; helps libraries with the data conversion and download from other systems; and verifies professional qualifications for working in the shared cataloguing system.

Thematic Open Access projects and initiatives
There are thematic collections at the following special libraries, all of which are participants in the Virtual Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina Centre and full members of COBISS although it is not mandated by Open Access.

Academy of science and arts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Library for the blind and visually impaired of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Library of the International Multi-religious Centre, Sarajevo ("Zajedno").

Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo.

List of publications

 * Comba, V (2004) Trends in digital libraries and scholarly communication among European Academic Research Libraries. California Digital Libraries Discussion Group.
 * Madacki, S (2001) From Dusty storage to library without walls: Librarian in Wonderland. Paper presented at ALA Conference, San Francisco, 14–20 June 2001.
 * Pellizzer, V and Amila, A Bosnia and Herzegovina. Oneworld.
 * UNESCO (2006) Accessing and disseminating scientific information in South Eastern Europe.