John Russell is using Google Base to host an OA bibliography of Georgia labor history. From his description:
When Google Base was released, it seemed like a good opportunity to create some sort of open-access database. I was working on a bibliography of Georgia labor history at the time (and still am), so why not put the citations online? I logged in and looked at the interface and it seemed like it would be a reasonably easy proposition. I created new item types for the bibliography....For each item record, I added basic metadata - what you would expect to find in any citation - and these are easily added under the category of “Details.” For the “Keyword” section, I created a controlled vocabulary: each item in the bibliography would have the keyword “georgia labor history” plus a number of pre-established (by me) terms: any geographic locations would be included (in the format of either “city/town (Georgia)” or “county name (Georgia)”), plus race, gender, slavery, unions, textiles, agriculture, lumber, strikes, company name....Lastly, I added what I think is a useful feature - if there is an OpenWorldCat record for a book, I’ve supplied that link (meaning that if you click on the title, you are taken to the OpenWorldCat record rather than the record that I created in Google Base); similarly, I supplied links to finding aids for the primary sources included (clicking on the title takes you to the online finding aid). The articles also include links, if available, to the full-text of the article (done by using database-supplied persistent URLs and/or creating an OpenURL via SFX) - I didn’t make the article title link directly to article full-text and only would if the article were freely available online....I also like the ability to provide a link to the search, so that I could create a web page with links to citations for Georgia labor history, or offer links to the refined searches (such as strikes or race). In general, I think Google Base provides a great opportunity for librarians and other groups to create an open access database....Remember, though, to keep a back-up record of all the citations you add as Google Base could be gone in a year!
(PS: Apart from courseware, this is the first academic use I've seen of Google Base. I don't plan to monitor all the uses of GB, but I'd still like to follow its uses for OA scholarship.)
Posted by
Peter Suber at 12/14/2005 08:19:00 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.
