Digital Knowledge: CPUT’s Open Access and Open Data Projects - Signing of the Berlin Declaration

[Abstract] Worldwide and especially in developing countries institutions of higher education are under enormous financial pressure. In this South Africa this situation has worsen dramatically with the recent zero fee increase decisions by government. Amongst many other rising costs, the cost of books, journals and electronic resources have risen dramatically. The problem is that with the recent addition of Value Added Tax on these materials and the constant weakening of the exchange rate in South Africa, the CPUT libraries finds it increasingly difficult to maintain the level of e-resources required by an academic institution with a focus on high quality research and learning. It is for this very reason that CPUT libraries a few years ago turned to open access and open data projects and became part of the Berlin agreement. But before we continue, let me clarify what is meant by Open Access. According to Peter Suber, Open Access is information that is “digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.” It’s a new way of unlocking knowledge that is generated by research institutions by making it accessible to those who cannot afford subscription-based access through scholarly publishers of journals and databases.