On June 18, Susanna Powers of Tulane University posted this query to the ERIL (Electronic Resources in Libraries) list:
Does your library have a policy for including open access publications in the local catalog or other web-based discovery sources? If so, we would appreciate hearing to what formal extent you treat these titles to support your users’ needs, and how selective you are in representing them in alongside the traditional (paid) electronic resources.
My question...was sent to NASIG-L, SERIALST, and ERIL-L, and I received 29 responses....Of these 29 recipients:
Only three said that they did not catalog open access or other freely available electronic publications.
Only one said a short bibliographic record was included in the catalog for these publications.
Most of these institutions used either Serials Solutions or SFX to create a local A-Z listing linked to their web site.
Only one said explicitly that no A-Z list is maintained.
Two have formal policies for open access, appearing on their web sites. Criteria for selection are similar to those for paid publications.
Three stated they have no policy about selecting and documenting open-access, but in practice, freely available e-journals and integrating resources are included.
Ongoing maintenance of links was not commented upon much at all.
The general impression from this quick scan is that of those having time to respond to my message,most routinely select and catalog open-access publications alongside their expensive counterparts, in the same work-flow process....
Posted by
Peter Suber at 6/27/2007 12:40:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
I recommend the OA tracking project (OATP) as the best way to stay on top of new OA developments. You can read the OATP feed on a blog-like web page or subscribe to it by RSS, email, or Twitter. You can also help build the feed by tagging new developments you encounter.
