6. Discovery

One of the biggest complaints about all academic content and open access content in particular is an inability to discover it through standardized means. Many open access journal and publications are not part of the standard abstracting and indexing services, and when they are, they are often not versioned correctly. In addition, there is a sense among some academics and library administrators that there is little need to curate open access content not locally created. In many ways, librarians sabotage themselves by not including essential metadata to their repository entries to help aid in the discoverability of their content. In the Sage White Paper: “Collaborative Improvements in the Discoverability of Scholarly Content: Accomplishments, Aspirations, and Opportunities”, Mary Sommerville and Lettie Conrad note that discoverability can best be defined as:

  • Successful integration into librarians’ infrastructure for content
  • Integration across discovery channels
  • Relevant results found
  • Smooth authentication & usability

These points readily apply to open access content as well as commercially purchased content.

6.1 Addition of global OA Content to library catalogues & discovery systems
6.2 Participation in OAISter
6.3 Necessary Metadata
6.4 Exposure of local repository on Google
6.5 Indexing of gold OA journals and the need for OA designation
6.6 Usage data (PIRUS, IRUS-UK, COUNTER 4)

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