[Web4lib] How UC librarians use Google Scholar

[Dale Askey]

I'm curious about a statement in the excerpt from this report:

<quote>
[Forwarded from Open Access News. -- George]

... It [Google Scholar] is open access and sometimes easier to use than 
traditional resources. ...
</quote>

This is yet another example of the hash that has been made of the term 
"open access." Google Scholar is not open access, it is freely 
accessible, and there is a huge difference between those two terms. 
Sure, non-UC affiliated folks (or anyone else outside academia) can use 
GS, but the stuff it points to may or may not be open access sources. In 
many cases, they will not be.

It's interesting to note that the excerpt was forwarded from Open Access 
News. Since "open access" has come to carry so many positive 
connotations (the simplest being open access=good citizen journal), 
shouldn't we be careful in the library world with how we apply it in our 
field?

Dale Askey