[Web4lib] Open Access Journals - A Major Problem

[Campbell, James (jmc)]

Our users make privacy decisions all the time with Facebook and Google or with giving the grocery store an address to get the discount card. Some don't care at all, some make conscious decisions to accept one situation and not another, and some try to stay as anonymous as possible.  I don't see the decision about registering for a journal as any different from registering with Kroger and tend to think it ought to be left to the individual to determine what the information is worth.

Every time I look at our Serials Solutions statistics I'm surprised by the high usage of the "Freely available" collections and pleased by the fact that some of our users have found rather obscure collections they almost certainly would have missed had we not pointed them out.
 
On the practical side, the list for Serials Solutions clients discussed open access journals a while back and several people mentioned that they add an "All titles" note to the open access collections. We started doing that, basically saying that these are free Internet resources, not library subscriptions, and that has cut down a lot on questions.

      - Jim Campbell

      Digital Access Librarian | Librarian for German
      University of Virginia Library | Charlottesville, VA 22904-4112

      513 Alderman | campbell at virginia.edu | 434-924-4985


-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Wilfred Drew
Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 3:52 PM
To: SUNYLA discussion group; collib-l at ala.org; 'web4lib at webjunction.org'
Subject: [Web4lib] Open Access Journals - A Major Problem

I am seriously considering deleting many of the open access journals or even entire groups of them that are part of the "Freely Accessible" collections within Serials Solutions.  I am thinking about doing this because many are now requiring username/password in order to see content even though it is free.  This is proving to be very frustrating to our staff and students.  It complicates OpenURL, ILLiad, and other services by adding another roadblock. Any thoughts? Open access standards should also include not requiring a username/password.

I also posted this message on my blog and on Facebook as well as Twitter.


-----------------------------------------
Wilfred (Bill) Drew, M.S., B.S., A.S.
Assistant Professor
Librarian, Systems and Tech Services
Strengths: Ideation, Input, Learner, Command, Analytical
E-mail: dreww at tc3.edu<mailto:dreww at tc3.edu>
Follow the library: http://twitter.com/TC3Library
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