1:17 p.m.
I would like to report back on my action item from the March meeting:
Action Item - Lin - Explore if the open access filter and including open access resources
in catalogue is a Summons issue or if it extends to other library systems (e.g. EDS).
Thank you to FX Pare, Systems Librarian at BCIT, for this excellent and detailed
explanation:
The short answer:
This could apply to any system, not just Summon/Serials Solutions. However, the details of
where/how this is controlled will likely vary from one system to another. Similarly, the
collections themselves (exact name, number of titles, etc.) could vary to some extent
between software products.
The long answer:
In general, I see four main areas where a library could have a decision to make regarding
OA content. Again this should apply to any system, but it could present itself differently
from one to the other (some elements might be combined, some might be automatic, etc.).
1) Activating the collections (or not) in the Link Resolver (this could be 360 Link, SFX,
Alma, Full Text Finder, etc.).
Impacts:
- A patron using the "Get It" button will be presented with a link to the full
text of the article.
- The activated titles will be included in the e-journals/e-books lists, if those are
available. In some cases this could be controlled separately (so titles could be available
through "Get It" but not be listed, for example).
2) Exporting individual e-journal/e-book records (or not) for those titles to the
ILS/Discovery interface (Summon, Primo, EDS, etc.). For some systems this might be
automatic once a title is activated in the link resolver, but in other cases this might be
controlled on a collection-by-collection basis.
Impact:
- There will now be individual records for the selected OA e-books and e-journals in the
Catalogue/Discovery interface.
3) Adding individual article records for the OA titles (or not) to the search results in
the Discovery interface.
Impact:
- Records for individual articles coming from those collections will show up in search
results.
There is potentially a second level at play here, which is whether the records would be
considered part of the library's collection, or whether they would only appear when
the user clicks "Show results beyond the library's collection" (or something
along those lines). This could either be determined by the activation status in the Link
Resolver (see 1 above) or perhaps some systems would assume that the documents are
available, given that they are from an Open Access title/collection (see 4 below).
4) Activating (or not) the Open Access filter (aka facet) and/or indicator in the
Discovery interface. This is usually an all-or-nothing option, meaning that it's
either activated or not, and can't be controlled on a collection-by-collection or
title-by-title basis. The determination of whether a record is from an Open Access journal
or not is often based on a central directory of journals such as Ulrich's.
Impacts:
- Users will be able to filter search results based on the "Open Access"
nature of the documents.
- There can also be some sort of flag, icon or label in each record, indicating that
they describe Open Access content.
Ideally there would be some sort of consistency between these four areas in a given
institution, meaning that if a collection is deemed trustworthy or interesting enough to
be activated in the link resolver, it would also make sense to have the individual
articles appear in the Discovery interface, etc.. But there might exceptions, which is why
those areas can usually be controlled separately.
One last thing that I think I mentioned before but bears repeating: an additional
difficulty in working across different systems is that the available collections
themselves might not be totally similar from one institution to the next. Some collections
might be available in one resolver but not in another, some collections might have a
slightly different name or number of titles, etc. This could make collaboration more
difficult, but it's not necessarily a deal-breaker either, as there would likely be
significant similarities as well.
Lin Brander| Librarian, Electronics & Computer Systems; Open Education|British
Columbia Institute of Technology T 604-432-8922<tel:604-432-8922>| E
lbrander@bcit.ca<mailto:lbrander@bcit.ca>| W
bcit.ca/library<http://www.bcit.ca/library/> | O https://www.bcit.ca/open/