Penn State Great Valley Library Blog

JSTOR (the scholarly journal archive) has launched JSTOR Africa as “part of JSTOR’s mission to create an archive of scholarly literature and extend access to the archive as broadly as possible, we are proud to announce that JSTOR has adopted a plan to waive participation fees for any academic or not-for-profit institution on the continent of Africa. This plan affects new participants, as well as institutions that currently participate in JSTOR.”

The plan will provide three years of free access to institutions in Africa participating in the program. JSTOR’s provides a rationale for selecting the continent of Africa as follows:

“We understand that there are many other regions of the world and many institutions that would benefit from a similar policy. We have limited this access plan to Africa in part because barriers to sustainability and access are so broadly similar across this region. The Open Africa Program is the latest initiative we have taken in the last few years to address issues of affordability, utility, sustainability, and access.

JSTOR has taken steps to make access to the archive more accessible to the developing world, including an access plan for countries outside the United States that extend savings off of standard JSTOR participation fees based on criteria established by the World Bank’s analysis of Gross National Income (GNI).”

Learn more about this exciting initative by logging onto: www.jstor.org/about/africa/openafrica.html

A study released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project today shares new insights into the life of bloggers. While most people know that blogs currently available on the Internet reflect an assortment of various topics, what is more interesting is the majority of bloggers focus on blogging as a means of personal creative expression. Other bloggers use the weblogs as a means of keeping in touch with family and friends.