Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Connecting Knowledge Silos: Tying Together Institutional Repositories For Research Cohesion And Inclusive Information Access, Bebe S. Chang, Sunghae Ress

Digital Commons Southeastern User Group (DC SEUG) 2019

Since the first free research-sharing site, arXiv, appeared in 1991, the push for open access to combat exorbitant subscription models has seen the number of institutional and research repositories jump to over 4,000. However, with each encased in its own architectural edifice, how is robust research synergy being achieved if researchers are consulting these storehouses of knowledge separately rather than as a collective?

Writing in The Atlantic in 1945, Director of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, Dr. Vannevar Bush, observed that the “publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use of the record.” …

Scholarly Piracy Vs Scholarly Activism: Where Sci-Hub Fits In The Information Literacy Landscape, Fred Rascoe, Laura Burtle, Mariann Burright, Melanie Kowalski

Georgia International Conference on Information Literacy

In recent months, the site Sci-Hub (https://sci-hub.io/) has gained attention for providing easy access to any scholarly journal article, without regard to the user’s subscription status, and without requiring payment. For articles that are not already open access, this activity infringes on the copyright in the articles, generally held by publishers, and, for articles obtained via a library subscription, is presumptively a breach of the license between the library and the publisher. Regardless, this activity has proven to be a popular and expedient way to break through access barriers to important scholarly information for students and faculty, especially those in …