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Re: Open access policies David Jank 19 Jun 2007 20:06 UTC

Hi there.  Here's our (my) $.02:

Our sort of overarching philosophy of what to explicitly include in our OPACs basically harkens back to Collection Development 101:  if we didn't acquire such and such with our own budget expenditures, then it doesn't go into the OPAC because we don't, technically, "own" such and such.

Of course, we still want to harvest valuable Web-based sources, so we will gladly include links to open access stuff, as well as other valuable Web-based sources, in the selected links listings on our library's Web site.  Basic frustration, however, is that it's quite easy to get burned by evaporating Web sites, and there's always skepticism as to what to include in our links pages, since what we want to do is promote the idea that "we found this for you because it is good for you to use" rather than simply trying to wow people by grabbing multitudes of e-sources willy nilly.  That doesn't go over too well if people aren't actively humanly checking these things from time to time, and we rarely have staff for this.

All this being said, of course, the OAJ world is certainly far more reputable than most e-journal sources, and therefore merits inclusion in the selected outside Web sources pages, if, that is, their content is relevant to our collection development direction.  We try and avoid, however, the idea of "Gateway to E-Journals," since that's a format-based organization, and library users do not typically begin their information seeking experience expressing a desire for a specific format.  Open Access journals deemed worthy for noting will be maintained as a selected link within a subject-oriented search page.

Hope that helps.

**************************************************
David Jank, M.S., M.S.L.I.S.
Assistant Professor and Librarian
Dowling College Library
Racanelli Learning Resources Center
150 Idle Hour Blvd.- Room RC 207-B
Oakdale, NY    11769
Phone:   (631) 244-3081
Fax:     (631) 244-3374
E-mail:  jankd@dowling.edu
www.dowling.edu

"There is no man who can grapple with the librarians of today."
---Lord Rosebery of Glasgow, 1877

"Just keep passing the open windows."
---John Irving
**************************************************

>>> Andrea Serra <anserra@VASSAR.EDU> 6/19/2007 9:58 AM >>>
We are in the process of making a decision on this as well, so I
would be interested to hear what others are doing. Would you be able
to post a summary of responses on the list?

Thanks.

Andrea Serra
Library Assistant, Electronic Resources
Vassar College Libraries
Technical Services, Box 20
124 Raymond Avenue
Poughkeepsie, NY 12604-0020
anserra@vassar.edu
Tel.  845.437.5773
Fax. 845.437.5864

At 09:42 AM 6/19/2007, you wrote:
>
>
>Apologies for cross-posting.
>
>
>
>Dear serials community,    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.     Thanks very much for your comments,
>
>
>
>
>Susanna S. Powers
>Serials and Electronic Resources Librarian
>Tulane University
>Howard-Tilton Memorial Library
>7001 Freret St.
>New Orleans, LA 70118-5682
>voice 504.247.1819
>fax 504.862.8556
>http://library.tulane.edu