Where can I find free-of-charge publications?

Updated - Monday 28 July 2008

There are various options to obtain free-of-charge publications. Some are available for organisations only, others also for individuals.

I. Free access for individuals and organisations - focus on water and sanitation sector

1) The bi-weekly Source Water and Sanitation News Service

Source provides news in English, French and Spanish with an emphasis on rural and peri-urban areas in developing countries. Every two months there is a special edition called Source Bulletin, dedicated to more in-depth feature articles. (Source Bulletin is also on paper so you can include it in your library).

Both are also available on Internet: http://www.irc.nl/source and at http://www.irc.nl/source-bulletin

2) Free access to online available publications of IRC International Water and Sanitaton Centre, via Internet and by e-mail.

See the complete list of all publications at: http://www.irc.nl/page/7356. When it says "...or download" underneath the description, this means that you can download the file free of charge.

3) Books on gender and water

Please take a look at the publication page of the Gender and Water Alliance, a network of 300 organisations and individuals from around the world. The site refers to many publications on gender and water, many of them can be obtained for free from the publisher. See http://www.genderandwateralliance.org/english/books.asp

II. Free access for organisations only - not specifically focused on water

4) The library support programmes of INASP, the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications

INASP offers all kinds of information for starting libraries. (http://www.inasp.info/health/index.html)
Contact:
INASP-HEALTH: 27 Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HU, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 1865 249909 Fax: +44 1865 251060
E-mail: inasp@inasp.info Web: www.inasp.info

5) Programme for the Enhancement of Research Information (PERI)

Also run by INASP. Their webpage on Access to Free and Open Access Online Journals and Databases provides many links to online free and open access materials available on the Internet, but only one specific on water: the US Geological Survey Water Resources Abstracts; : http://www.inasp.info/peri/free.html

Besides this publicly available information source, PERI gives access (for members) to over 7500 on-line full text journals and databases, including current awareness and document delivery services. The costs to access to these information sources are very low or even free of charge for PERI members (non-profit organisations, such as universities and educational institutions, indigenous NGOs and civil based organisations).
Contact: inasp@inasp.info for more information on eligibility. Please include details of the name, address and nature of your organisation.

6) Book Aid International (BAI)

Book Aid International works in partnership with organisations in developing countries to support local initiatives in literacy, education, training and publishing. They provide books and information.

BAI does not consider requests from individuals for books for their own personal use. Priority for support will be given to organisations working in the following sectors: information; education; health; human rights; gender awareness; environmental protection; agriculture; publishing and book development. BAI is particularly interested in supporting organisations targeting disadvantaged groups. For more information on the criteria: http://www.bookaid.org/resources/downloads/criteria.PDF [pdf file, 322 KB]
Contact:
Book Aid, 39 - 41 Coldharbour Lane, Camberwell, London SE5 9NR, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7733 3577; Fax: +44 (0) 20 7978 8006
E-mail: info@bookaid.org; Web: http://www.bookaid.org

BAI concentrates over 85% of their resources on sub-Saharan Africa. Contact persons of the various country programmes can be found at http://www.bookaid.org/cms.cgi/site/about/contacts/_asia.htm

7) The Netherlands Periodicals Project (NPP)

Project carried out by Nuffic, the Netherlands organization for international cooperation in higher education. NPP supports scientific (university) libraries in developing countries by providing them with scientific publications.
Contact:
Ms. Ingrid van der Elst
Coordinator, NPP (Netherlands Periodicals Project), Nuffic (OS-BOB)
PO Box 29777, 2502 LT The Hague, The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)70 4260 169; Fax: +31 (0)70 4260 189
E-mail: ielst@nuffic.nl; Web: http://www.nuffic.net/common.asp?id=426

Finally we refer to a news article dealing with an initiative on free access to (water) journals.

Scientific information: free access initiative includes water journals.
(Source Weekly, no. 43-44, 5 Nov 2003, http://www.irc.nl/page/6051)


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