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Do developing countries profit from free books? Discovery and online usage in developed and developing countries compared

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Author : Ronald Snijder

For years, Open Access has been seen as a way to remove barriers to research in developing countries. In order to test this, an experiment was conducted to measure whether publishing academic books in Open Access has a positive effect on developing countries.

During a period of nine months the usage data of 180 books was recorded. Of those, a set of 43 titles was used as control group with restricted access. The rest was made fully accessible.

The data shows the digital divide between developing countries and developed countries: 70 percent of the discovery data and 73 percent of online usage data come from developed countries. Using statistical analysis, the experiment confirms that Open Access publishing enhances discovery and online usage in developing countries.

This strengthens the claims of the advocates of Open Access: researchers from the developing countries do benefit from free academic books.

URL : http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0016.103

Knowledge sharing behaviour influences : A study of Information Science and Library Management faculties in Bangladesh

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The prime focus of this study is to measure knowledge sharing behaviour of Information Science and Library Management (ISLM) faculties in Bangladesh. Determining factors that may influence knowledge sharing behaviour constitutes an important area of research.

A survey questionnaire was developed and used to collect data on faculties’ demographic and academic information, perception, attitude, intention and intrinsic motivation to share knowledge. In order to analyze the influence of faculties’ demographic and individual characteristics on their attitude, intention and intrinsic motivation, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests were carried out.

Results showed that no significant difference was found between knowledge sharing behaviour of LIS educators with different Major Research Questions (MRQs). The researchers found a significant relationship 0.000 (p-value<0.05) between attitude of educators toward knowledge sharing and their intention to share knowledge.

It is believed that the findings will assist knowledge managers charged with the design of flexible knowledge sharing system.

This is the first time an effort has been made to assess faculties’ perception, attitude, intention and intrinsic motivation to share knowledge of ISLM faculties in Bangladesh.

The authors feel that this study may encourage more such research on knowledge sharing behaviour in Bangladesh and further.”

URL : http://ifl.sagepub.com/content/39/3/221.abstract

Current Status of ShodhGangotri: Repository of Indian Research in Progress

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Across the globe, new research projects are undertaken every year by the researchers. There should be some system which will maintain a database of ongoing research work in order to avoid duplication of research. Some universities and institutions in foreign countries maintain database of research in progress.

In India, various universities and institutions like INFLIBNET, DELNET, NASSDOC, IISc, CSIR and University of Mysore etc. have their Electronic thesis and dissertation (ETD) repository providing open or login based access to full-text ETDs. But, none of these have any database of Research in Progress.

Recently, INFLIBNET introduced ShodhGangotri, which has been built to maintain a database of synopsis of on-going M.Phil/ Ph.D in Indian universities and institutions. The present paper provides a brief picture of the current status of ShodhGangotri.”

URL : http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/997/

European Landscape Study of Research Data Management

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The European Landscape Study of Research Data Management offers an overview of how to effectively support researchers in their data management. It looks at interventions by funding agencies, research institutions, national bodies and publishers across the European Union member states. The report also makes recommendations that organisations can adopt to help their researchers.

URL : https://www.sim4rdm.eu/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/SIM4RDM%20landscape%20report%20vs1%204_14.08.13.pdf

Publication fees for open access journals: Different disciplines—different methods

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Many authors appear to think that most open access (OA) journals charge authors for their publications. This brief communication examines the basis for such beliefs and finds it wanting. Indeed, in this study of over 9,000 OA journals included in the Directory of Open Access Journals, only 28% charged authors for publishing in their journals. This figure, however, was highest in various disciplines in medicine (47%) and the sciences (43%) and lowest in the humanities (4%) and the arts (0%).

URL : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.22972/full

Scholarship 2.0: Analyzing scholars’ use of Web 2.0 tools in research and teaching activity

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Over the past 15 years the Web has transformed the ways in which we search for information and use it. In more recent years, we have seen the emergence of a new array of innovative tools that collectively go under the name of ‘Web 2.0’, in which the information user is also increasingly an information producer (i.e., prosumer), by sharing or creating content.

The success of Web 2.0 tools for personal use is only partially replicated in the professional sphere and, particularly, in the academic environment in relation with research and teaching.

To date, very few studies have explored the level of adoption of Web 2.0 among academic researchers in their research and teaching activity. It is not known in what way how and how much Web 2.0 is currently used within research communities, and we are not aware of the drivers and the drawbacks of the use of Web 2.0 tools in academia, where the majority of people is focused either on research or on teaching activities.

To analyse these issues, i.e. the combined adoption of Web 2.0 tools in teaching and research, the authors carried out a survey among teaching and researching staff of the University of Breda in The Netherlands. This country was chosen mainly because it is on the cutting edge as far as innovation is concerned. An important driver in choosing the Breda University’s academic community was the fact that one of the two authors of this survey works as senior researcher at this university.

The purpose of our survey was to explore the level of adoption of Web 2.0 tools among the academic communities. We were interested in investigating how they were using these tools in the creation of scientific knowledge both in their research and teaching activity. We were also interested in analysing differences in the level of adoption of Web 2.0 tools with regard to researchers’ position, age, gender, and research field.

Finally, in our study we explored the issue of peer reviewing in the Web 2.0 setting. In particular, we investigated whether social peer review is regarded by researchers as a viable alternative to the current closed peer review system (single-blind or double blind).

We approached about 60 staff members, but only 12 faculty members completed the survey fully. This means that our results can only be regarded as exploratory, but we still believe that they represent a complementary perspective with respect to previous studies.”

URL : http://liber.library.uu.nl/index.php/lq/article/view/8108

Digital Copyright and Public Access: Why the Knowledge Principle Dictates a Fair Access Right for Public Libraries

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This Article argues that copyright jurisprudence has lost sight of the knowledge principle at the heart of the Constitutional justification for copyright. The Framers envisioned the objective of copyright as promoting the advancement of knowledge for a democratic society by increasing access to published works.

Under what is best termed the “knowledge principle,” access to existing knowledge is a necessary condition for the creation of new knowledge. Copyright jurisprudence has largely protected the interests of producers – from early booksellers to modern Hollywood film companies – failing to notice the central role of access to works as a necessary pre-condition to the creation of new works.

The realities of the digital era further hinder the functioning of this mechanism. Ownership of copies of texts has morphed into a limited right of possession of digital files. Public libraries can no longer fulfill their mission of maximizing the circulation of materials in order to spread available knowledge among citizens.

This Article proposes an alternative model to the conventional copyright theories, focusing on the critical role that access to knowledge resources plays in the dynamic processes at work in the production of knowledge and the creation of new works.

This Article proposes a non-waivable “fair access” right exercisable by public libraries in order to realign copyright with its Constitutional justification, and more importantly to support the knowledge creation process for the future of our democratic society.

URL : http://ssrn.com/abstract=2315188