www.le.ac.uk

Beyond the Pay Wall!Repositories as sources of supply

Gareth J JohnsonDocument Supply & Repository ManagerDavid Wilson LibraryUniversity of Leicester

28 June 2011

Slides: www.slideshare.net/GazJJohnson/

Overview

1. OA primer

2. Why should we use open access materials?

3. Searching for open access materials

4. Questions and comments

Open Access 101

• Ungated online access to scholarly publications– Not restricted by publisher paywalls

• Comes in Green & Gold flavours– Post-publication archiving or open publication

• A mainstream publication activity– Major funders and institutions require it

• Unlocks vast tracts of materials– Especially hard to locate grey literature– But not everything is available due for various reasons

Why Use OA Materials?

• Immediacy and freeness of availability will help satisfy patrons and management alike– Savings of time and money

• Ease (relative) of finding them once you know the tools

• Access to material you might otherwise be unable to source or obtain

• The question should be: Why aren’t you using OA materials already?

Understanding the Terminology

• Repositories – subject, institutional, education, data etc

• OA versions of text are normally functionally equivalent to published versions

• But there is often a variance in the versions available

• Important to be able to differentiate for patrons

• More critical for some (e.g. Medics) than others

• Fully readable document(s)• May include additional files• Downloadable & printable• Usually includes link to

published (paywall) version

• Effectively catalogue record• No full-text available• Usually includes link to

published (paywall) version

Search Tools

• Google Scholar

• OpenDOAR

• BASE

• Institutional Repository Search

• Index to Theses

• Ethos

• DOAJ

Google Scholar

• A subset of the mighty Google search engine– Drawbacks:

• Only a Google Specified range of repositories• Includes paywall journal sites

– Advantages:• As easy to use as Google• Restricts search to “Scholarly” sources• Can specify date range, journal title etc• Can specify subject area of search• Also searches Google Books

OpenDOAR Search• Queries quality assured list of repository targets

– Drawbacks: • Very simple search interface with no options• Returns multiple routes to the same item in one

repository• Can return high levels of irrelevant results

– Advantages:• Simple to search using title keywords• Can use Google command line language• Related tool for searching for repository sites

BASE• Bielefeld Academic Search Engine – more

sophisticated searching– Drawbacks:

• Seems to prioritise paywall version of items in results

• Open access version link hard to spot

– Advantages:• Offers Basic and Advanced search options• Sophisticated range of limits and search options• Continues to be developed• Available in German and English

Links to publisher (paywall) version

Links to Repository home pageActual link to full-text open access version

Institutional Repository Search

• A project demonstrator searching UK repositories

• Drawbacks– Only searches across UK based repositories– No longer being developed & can be a bit flakey at

times

• Advantages– Simple interface but some advanced functionality– Can limit to specific repository, types or status– Can opt to search for non-peer-reviewed material only– Indicates a closeness of match for each result

Index to Theses

• An index of theses, including links to full-text– Drawbacks

• Not all theses available in full text• Delay between OA versions being available and

indexed

– Advantages• Freely available and easy to search• Offers four different searching options• Indexes Ethos and local repository copies

Search Tools: Ethos

• The British Library national eThesis service– Drawbacks

• Downloading requires registration• Non-digitised theses can be requested but there

may be a charge• Not all potential theses are listed

– Advantages• Can limit search to items available for download• All theses already digitised freely available• Basic and advanced search function

Open Access Journals

• Fully open journals (e.g. PLoS One)– All articles full-open access– Author’s pay publication fee to retain rights

• Publishers options– E.g. Springer Open Choice – selected articles open

access– Authors chose on submission– Often demarked with an icon e.g.

• Directory of Open Access Journals– Can search for OA journals or articles in them

Key Points

• Open access materials can be used to satisfy patron requests swiftly and without cost

• There are a variety of search tools for open access materials

• Best ones to use can be a matter of personal choice

• Understanding the type of record and item version is important

Contact

• Gareth J Johnson– DS&R Manager, University of Leicester

– Chair FIL, Chair UKCoRR, CILIP Councillor, HEA Fellow

– Email: gjj6@le.ac.uk

– Tel: 0116-252-2039

– Web 2/Twitter: llordllama

– Slides: www.slideshare.net/GazJJohnson/

• Questions and Comments?

References and Links• BASE: www.base-search.net/

• DOAJ: www.doaj.org

• Ethos: ethos.bl.uk

• Google Scholar: scholar.google.co.uk/

• Index to theses: www.theses.com

• Institutional Repository Search: irs.mimas.ac.uk/demonstrator/

• OpenDOAR: www.opendoar.org

• OpenDOAR Repository Contents Search: www.opendoar.org/search.php

• Springer Open Choice: www.springer.com/open+access/open+choice?SGWID=0-40359-0-0-0

• Wiley Open Choice: www.wileyopenaccess.com/SpringboardWebApp/userfiles/woai/file/WOAI-Press-Release-final.pdf

Additional References• NDLTD - Networked Digital Library of Theses and

Dissertations (USA) www.ndltd.org

• Australasian Digital Theses Program adt.caul.edu.au