Types of Sources
Primary Sources
n. ~ Material that contains firsthand accounts of events and that was created contemporaneous to those events or later recalled by an eyewitness.
Notes:
Primary sources emphasize the lack of intermediaries between the thing or events being studied and reports of those things or events based on the belief that firsthand accounts are more accurate. Examples of primary sources include letters and diaries; government, church, and business records; oral histories; photographs, motion pictures, and videos; maps and land records; and blueprints. Newspaper articles contemporaneous with the events described are traditionally considered primary sources, although the reporter may have compiled the story from witnesses, rather than being an eyewitness. Artifacts and specimens may also be primary evidence if they are the object of study.
Citations:
†(Personal communication, Leon C. Miller, 27 August 2004) Whether something is a primary or secondary source depends on how it is used, not some quality of the document or record itself. . . . For example, Sandburg's biography of Lincoln is a primary source for Sandburg researchers but a secondary source for Lincoln researchers.
†(Robyns 2001, p. 368) Primary sources, we must constantly reiterate, are the subjective interpretations of another person's observation of an event or activity. Not surprisingly, therefore, many professional historians have written that it is their duty to approach primary sources with a healthy skepticism in the research process.
Secondary Sources
n. ~ 1. A work that is not based on direct observation of or evidence directly associated with the subject, but instead relies on sources of information. - 2. A work commenting on another work (primary sources), such as reviews, criticism, and commentaries.
Definitions from Pearce-Moses, Richard A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology 2005. http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/p/primary-source
Terms
Institutional Repository
“A university-based institutional repository is a set of services that a university offers to the members of its community for the management and dissemination of digital materials created by the institution and its community members. It is most essentially an organizational commitment to the stewardship of these digital materials, including long-term preservation where appropriate, as well as organization and access or distribution.”
Lynch, Clifford. 2003. “Institutional Repositories: Essential Infrastructure for Scholarship in the Digital Age” ARL Bimonthly Report, No. 226. http://www.arl.org/storage/documents/publications/arl-br-226.pdf
Open access
Creative Commons, summarizing the Budapest Open Access Declaration, states "Open access literature is digital, online, free of charge, and free of most copyright and licensing restrictions." There are many aspects of publication which are described in greater detail.
Creative Commons - Open Access
Budapest Open Access Declaration