[Web4lib] How UC librarians use Google Scholar

[george at library.caltech.edu]

[Forwarded from Open Access News. -- George] 

E. Meltzer, UC Libraries Use of Google Scholar <http://www.cdlib.org/inside/assess/evaluation_activities/docs/2005/googleScholar_summary_0805.pdf> , a report for the California Digital Library <http://www.cdlib.org/>  (CDL), August 2005. (Thanks to T.J. Sondermann <http://schoogle.blogspot.com/2005/08/uc-library-staff-use-of-google-scholar.html> .) Excerpt: 

	On June 22, 2005, the CDL requested information from the campuses about librarian and library staff use of Google Scholar in their own work and at public service desks. Eight of ten campuses responded with a wealth of information about the creative ways in which the libraries use Google Scholar, as well as with their objections to its use....The replies indicate a core of respondents do not use Google Scholar at all. Others use it rarely, instead strongly preferring licensed article databases purchased by the libraries for use in specific disciplines. Some are reluctant to use it because they are unsure of what it actually covers. Among those who do use Google Scholar, they value it as a way of getting at older, more obscure, interdisciplinary, and difficult to locate materials quickly and simply. It is open access and sometimes easier to use than traditional resources. It provides another point of entry to the world of scholarship. At public service desks, it is used as an entrée into the use of OpenURL or licensed resources, and as an option for non-UC affiliated users. Some campuses are beginning to adopt Google Scholar in their teaching. Whether one is "for" or "against" Google Scholar, it is clearly a topic of lively and passionate dialogue within the University of California libraries.

--
Posted by Peter Suber to Open Access News <http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2005_08_14_fosblogarchive.html#112428864857290839>  at 8/17/2005 09:46:00 AM