Commentary from librarians in the Asia-Pacific region on the impact of open access
To complement the previous post on SwetsBlog about open access (OA) and its actual and potential impact on librarians, we also asked some librarians in the Asia-Pacific region for their thoughts. We had comments from three librarians in Singapore base in Singapore Management University and Nanyang Technological University:
- Tint Hla Hla Htoo (TH), Senior Librarian, Nanyang Technological University
- Yuyun Wirawati (YW), Research Librarian, Singapore Management University
- Gulcin Cribb (GC), University Librarian, Singapore Management University
Conclusions were made in the last post, which looked at both the answers given by two librarians and two recent reports stemming from studies on similar subject. In short, the three main areas that a marked increase in open access content would influence were:
- Discovery services and their improvement
- Intra-institutional coaching and communication with research staff about OA
- Building and maintaining repositories
What we can glean from the results of our interviews with librarians from the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is that the above three points remain critical in an OA landscape also for this region. There seems to be a strong favour towards the repository, and evidence from the region shows that many universities are investing heavily in building robust platforms to manage their own academic records. Some interesting statistics are presented in this paper published out of the University of Nebraska (Lincoln) in their open access journal, Library Philosophy and Practice.
Let’s look at some specific comments. Relating to the notion of the librarian as the filter of open access content, making sure only the most relevant is discoverable and accessible by their end-users, the following ideas were shared:
“Librarians’ involvement in open access movement is mainly through open access repositories, which is usually referred to as the Green approach to Open Access. Besides institutional repositories, librarians also provide central repositories at national and even regional/international levels thereby playing a major role in providing 'free' information from multiple sources to the users.” (TH)
“A repository would be a good start to channel internal publications. For other free resources, librarians need to decide if they are going to keep on 'pushing' the information to the users? Various resources are already available to identify the open publications: repositories, Google Scholar, etc. Do we need to re-channel them to users?” (YW)
“By organising the information in such a way that open access information is accessible in the same way as other information the Library makes available to its users, by collaborating with various open access providers, by making sure that the systems library uses are able to facilitate such access and use.” (GC)
In terms of the impact on library workload and workflows in managing more open access content, the answers were based much more around changing the focus of library staff to assisting discovery by integrating open access content into existing systems, as well as providing a higher level of expertise to manage the information.
“As more and more open access content is available, new services can be implemented for the discovery, organization and management of that content. This creates new roles for librarians. A good example is the emergence of e-science librarians who are equipped with necessary skills and knowledge to manage the data deluge that is open to public.” (TH)
“Open access gives a great opportunity, as well as challenges for librarian. When everything is free and accessible, the question is no longer about providing the access, but how to FILTER the content. Previously, the quality of publications can be quantified by money/price. When all comes for free, user needs help to shift, filter and identify the quality articles from the gigantic amount of free resources. Librarians and information professionals are needed more than ever, not to purchase and collect, but to help users make the sense out of the mountain of information, to advise on the cut and selection, to educate users and to create awareness.” (YW)
“We already deal with open access in our workflow, e.g. our Scholarly Communication team and our Information Access and Resources Team, as well as our Research Librarians are aware and work with the providers, vendors, the faculty and others to accommodate. I am sure we can reorganise our workflows to do more and better. This is an evolving and dynamic area. We need to be prepared to assume new roles in the area of not only open access publishing of documents, but also open access research data organisation and access.” (GC)
When we asked about the challenges of implementing an open access policy such as that mandated in the UK by RCUK based on the conclusions of the Finch Report, the answers focussed on collaborating with faculty and assisting them by providing all available options for publication of their research.
"Finch's golden approach will undoubtedly change the model of publication. It tends, however, to give more benefit to established researchers who can afford to pay publishers. The less established researchers will probably have to go for open repositories and 'indie' publications. But that does not mean that their work has lesser quality. It is the one of the great challenges for librarians to spot, pin-point and show users these alternatives." (YW)
"I think this is a great opportunity for librarians and libraries. It means more collaboration between libraries, research offices and the faculty to work together to help each other and make sure the research publications and research data are organised, accessible and curated and preserved for better use of public money for the greater social good." (GC)
The final question we posed was about existing mechanisms to support their research staff in publishing via an open access route. The overwhelming response to these questions was that the provision of an institutional repository would provide this support. There was no mention of the author-pays (gold) open access model, or library support for this (in terms of selection of publication, fee administration and so on).
“We have an institutional repository for our researchers and faculty. We take the initiative to contact and check with the publishers about the copyright and possibility of posting our researcher's paper in the repository. We also promote and create awareness of open access and different model of publishing amongst our researchers and faculty.” (YW)
“We provide guidance to our research students on publishing, copyright and open access as part of our training programs for research students. Open access publishing is publicised among faculty using various approaches. The Library has assumed the responsibility of getting clearance for copyright before uploading faculty publications if the publication is not available on ‘green access’.”(GC)
To conclude, there are few difference in these responses to our findings from the UK and US librarians we talked to previously, with the three central themes echoed throughout the responses above. There does seem to be a sway towards the green route for open access, which is the development and management of an active institutional repository, and work is clearly underway in many institutions in the APAC region to develop and promote these within their own institutions.
What are your own experiences within your library and institution? We would really like to hear your own ideas and responses. Here are the original questions we asked, so leave us your answers in the comments section below.
- Open access allows anyone to read content – how will the librarian be involved in channeling this increasing amount of ‘free’ information from multiple sources to their end users?
- What impact will an increase in open access content have on the librarian workflow and workload?
- In light of recent developments in the UK regarding open access (i.e. Finch report and related recommendations for UK publically-funded research), what is the greatest challenge faced by librarians, using the UK as a guide for other countries who may take a similar approach?
- How do you currently support your researchers and faculty to publish open access content?
Asia-Pacific perspectives on the impact of open access on librarians
26 okt 2012 Filed under: Research ProductivityCommentary from librarians in the Asia-Pacific region on the impact of open access
To complement the previous post on SwetsBlog about open access (OA) and its actual and potential impact on librarians, we also asked some librarians in the Asia-Pacific region for their thoughts. We had comments from three librarians in Singapore base in Singapore Management University and Nanyang Technological University:
Conclusions were made in the last post, which looked at both the answers given by two librarians and two recent reports stemming from studies on similar subject. In short, the three main areas that a marked increase in open access content would influence were:
What we can glean from the results of our interviews with librarians from the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is that the above three points remain critical in an OA landscape also for this region. There seems to be a strong favour towards the repository, and evidence from the region shows that many universities are investing heavily in building robust platforms to manage their own academic records. Some interesting statistics are presented in this paper published out of the University of Nebraska (Lincoln) in their open access journal, Library Philosophy and Practice.
Let’s look at some specific comments. Relating to the notion of the librarian as the filter of open access content, making sure only the most relevant is discoverable and accessible by their end-users, the following ideas were shared:
“Librarians’ involvement in open access movement is mainly through open access repositories, which is usually referred to as the Green approach to Open Access. Besides institutional repositories, librarians also provide central repositories at national and even regional/international levels thereby playing a major role in providing 'free' information from multiple sources to the users.” (TH)
“A repository would be a good start to channel internal publications. For other free resources, librarians need to decide if they are going to keep on 'pushing' the information to the users? Various resources are already available to identify the open publications: repositories, Google Scholar, etc. Do we need to re-channel them to users?” (YW)
“By organising the information in such a way that open access information is accessible in the same way as other information the Library makes available to its users, by collaborating with various open access providers, by making sure that the systems library uses are able to facilitate such access and use.” (GC)
In terms of the impact on library workload and workflows in managing more open access content, the answers were based much more around changing the focus of library staff to assisting discovery by integrating open access content into existing systems, as well as providing a higher level of expertise to manage the information.
“As more and more open access content is available, new services can be implemented for the discovery, organization and management of that content. This creates new roles for librarians. A good example is the emergence of e-science librarians who are equipped with necessary skills and knowledge to manage the data deluge that is open to public.” (TH)
“Open access gives a great opportunity, as well as challenges for librarian. When everything is free and accessible, the question is no longer about providing the access, but how to FILTER the content. Previously, the quality of publications can be quantified by money/price. When all comes for free, user needs help to shift, filter and identify the quality articles from the gigantic amount of free resources. Librarians and information professionals are needed more than ever, not to purchase and collect, but to help users make the sense out of the mountain of information, to advise on the cut and selection, to educate users and to create awareness.” (YW)
“We already deal with open access in our workflow, e.g. our Scholarly Communication team and our Information Access and Resources Team, as well as our Research Librarians are aware and work with the providers, vendors, the faculty and others to accommodate. I am sure we can reorganise our workflows to do more and better. This is an evolving and dynamic area. We need to be prepared to assume new roles in the area of not only open access publishing of documents, but also open access research data organisation and access.” (GC)
When we asked about the challenges of implementing an open access policy such as that mandated in the UK by RCUK based on the conclusions of the Finch Report, the answers focussed on collaborating with faculty and assisting them by providing all available options for publication of their research.
"Finch's golden approach will undoubtedly change the model of publication. It tends, however, to give more benefit to established researchers who can afford to pay publishers. The less established researchers will probably have to go for open repositories and 'indie' publications. But that does not mean that their work has lesser quality. It is the one of the great challenges for librarians to spot, pin-point and show users these alternatives." (YW)
"I think this is a great opportunity for librarians and libraries. It means more collaboration between libraries, research offices and the faculty to work together to help each other and make sure the research publications and research data are organised, accessible and curated and preserved for better use of public money for the greater social good." (GC)
The final question we posed was about existing mechanisms to support their research staff in publishing via an open access route. The overwhelming response to these questions was that the provision of an institutional repository would provide this support. There was no mention of the author-pays (gold) open access model, or library support for this (in terms of selection of publication, fee administration and so on).
“We have an institutional repository for our researchers and faculty. We take the initiative to contact and check with the publishers about the copyright and possibility of posting our researcher's paper in the repository. We also promote and create awareness of open access and different model of publishing amongst our researchers and faculty.” (YW)
“We provide guidance to our research students on publishing, copyright and open access as part of our training programs for research students. Open access publishing is publicised among faculty using various approaches. The Library has assumed the responsibility of getting clearance for copyright before uploading faculty publications if the publication is not available on ‘green access’.”(GC)
To conclude, there are few difference in these responses to our findings from the UK and US librarians we talked to previously, with the three central themes echoed throughout the responses above. There does seem to be a sway towards the green route for open access, which is the development and management of an active institutional repository, and work is clearly underway in many institutions in the APAC region to develop and promote these within their own institutions.
What are your own experiences within your library and institution? We would really like to hear your own ideas and responses. Here are the original questions we asked, so leave us your answers in the comments section below.
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