About Institutional Repositories

What is DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU?

DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU is the institutional repository for the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. The scholarly and creative work included here has been selected and deposited by our faculty, staff, and students. We also host five electronic journals on DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU: Headwaters, Obsculta, Studio One, The Compass, and The Journal of Social Encounters.

What is an Institutional Repository?

Institutional repositories like DigitalCommons@CSB/SJU bring together an institution’s scholarly and creative work under one umbrella, with an aim to preserve and provide access to that work. They are an excellent vehicle for copies of published articles, book chapters, conference papers, and working papers. Presentations, senior theses, and other works not published elsewhere can also be published in the institutional repositories. To learn more about Institutional Repositories, please visit the BE Press Resources page or SPARC (the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition), or read Raym Crow's The Case for Institutional Repositories: A SPARC Position Paper.

What is Open Access?

Open access stands for unrestricted access and unrestricted reuse of materials. Anyone may copy, distribute, or reuse open access articles as long as the author and original source are properly cited. Open access is, in part, a response to the price barriers and permissions barriers inherent in much of traditional publishing.