This paper presents the experience with open access (OA) publishing by researchers in an academic research institution (The University of the West Indies (UWI) St. Augustine Campus) in a developing country — Trinidad and Tobago. It describes the two parallel but complimentary paths for authors to enable open access, i.e. of publishing in open access journals and/or self–archiving. The benefits to researchers of free access to information, increased research impact and possible solution to the “serials crisis” are highlighted. It suggests that advocates of OA should consider all possible difficulties that researchers may have with OA, so that these could be ameliorated. To this end, it considers the UWI researchers’ knowledge of OA, their access to the scholarly literature, open access archives/repositories at the UWI and related issues of research and library funding, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), and infrastructure/Internet connectivity.
It concludes that there are indeed obvious and well–documented benefits for developing country researchers. There are though some disincentives that make it difficult for researchers in developing countries to fully participate in the OA movement. Apart from author–side or “page” charges, the limited number of open access journals in many fields of study and inadequate and unreliable ICT infrastructure and Internet connectivity often limit access and publication in OA journals. Thus, because of technical, financial, human and infrastructural limitations, OA via self–archiving is sometimes difficult for developing country researchers. It concludes that much more should be done to ensure full participation in the open access knowledge community by developing country researchers, including direct technical assistance in implementing institutional repositories (IRs) and more financial assistance and support from international agencies to build the necessary human resource capabilities.
These two parallel but complementary paths for achieving Open Access are sometimes referred to as the Gold (publish in an OAJ) and Green Roads to Open Access (publish in a non-OAJ but archive in an OAA) .
PurposeThis paper aims to continue the discussion of the difficulties that librarians face in creating a relevant and useful collection of standards. For developing countries the magnitude of the available standards and the huge costs make this task daunting.Design/methodology/approachThe types of standards, their role in ensuring that the World's structures, facilities, goods, etc. conform to ensure health and safety, the ranges and finally the needs of the University of the West Indies (UWI) are discussed. The UWI Main Library's approaches to grappling with the relevant issues are then explored.FindingsThe electronic age offers speedy access to information resources provided that there are financial resources. Electronic access to such documents as and when they are needed (just‐in‐time philosophy) seems the most viable option, given the cost constraints. Other options could be customised collections crafted to suit the needs of students and faculty, or electronic clearinghouses externally subsidised by a philanthropic body to obtain the articles via an Internet system. Any of these could be developed and ensure cost‐effective seamless access, so giving a world‐class service anywhere in the World. Of course, knowledgeable librarians and good abstracts are also essential.Practical implicationsThe cost of these technical documents is prohibitive for a developing country library to be able to have a large collection of standards but, if there is good internet access and a sound database to obtain abstracts, and if sufficient funds are in place, an efficient procedure could be developed for “just‐in‐time” access.Originality/valueThe paper examines some of the best options available to the Main Library of The University of the West Indies to ensure that engineering students gain access to current standards.
Research, particularly in the engineering and science disciplines, benefits from being able to scan comprehensively the content of journals, and then access the full text of the articles. The former requires subscriptions to abstracting and indexing resources, but there are ways of keeping this cost to a minimum through Internet access and publishers' websites. Access to full papers is expensive but 'just-in-time' access satisfies researchers' needs and keeps costs down as compared to 'just-in-case' subscriptions. New strategies with changed publishing and librarian attitudes are required if a library is to improve its capability to meet the information needs of the academic community effectively within budget. Fortunately there are a number of ways to give researchers access to authoritative scholarly quality information at much reduced, or even no cost. This paper discusses a number of these that have been successful at the University of the West Indies, Engineering and Physical Sciences Division of the Main Library.
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