Facilitating Scottish cultural publishing online

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the goals and broad outcomes of the SAPIENS project. SAPIENS was set up to provide electronic versions of current Scottish cultural periodicals. The project's approach was to offer assistance to smaller Scottish publishers to create online serial publications by providing server space, technical support, a high-profile gateway and various value-added services, thus, heightening Scotland's cultural presence in the global information environment. This not only increases the visibility of Scottish knowledge and research, but accessibility of learning resources and scholarly work on Scottish culture can be widened, perpetuating the study of Scotland's cultural heritage. The project has shown that electronic publishing is not cost-free and that a subscription model is necessary to sustain such a service.