• What is open access?

Open access refers to free and unrestricted availability of scientific or scholarly literature on the Internet.

In the past, the academic community relied on traditional publication methods. Authors submitted their writing to a journal, which published the article in a printed form and sold it to libraries or individuals through subscriptions. This system created financial and physical barriers, while open access provides more efficient means.

• What is the repository?

The Texas A&M Repository collects, distributes, and preserves the scholarly output of the University, while preserving the scholarly legacy of faculty. The repository contains electronic theses and dissertations, faculty papers and books, technical reports, conference proceedings and digitized maps. For more information, contact your subject librarian.

• What are scholarly services?

Scholarly services encourage communication. Texas A&M faculty can create blogs and wikis for sharing their research or scholarship, and the Digital Library can help faculty establish online peer reviewed journals.

• What is the Texas Digital Library?

The Texas Digital Library (TDL) is a multi-university consortium dedicated to providing the digital infrastructure to support a fully online scholarly community for institutions of higher education in Texas. Through the establishment of shared policies and standards, forums for professional interaction, expertise in digital collections and preservation, and robust technical services, the TDL aims to increase the availability of the enormous intellectual capital produced throughout Texas universities.

Texas A&M is a founding member (along with The University of Texas, University of Houston, and Texas Tech University) of the Texas Digital Library, and we collaborate with our partners to offer shared scholarly services. Texas A&M's repository is hosted on TDL computers and our blogs, wikis and peer reviewed journals are provided through the digital services of the TDL.