Evaluation of Open Access (OA) Resources: METU Case Study

Evaluation of Open Access (OA) Resources:
METU Case Study
Dr. Burcu Bulut, Middle East Technical University Library
Emre Hasan Akbayrak, Middle East Technical University Library
4th Annual Meeting of COAR May 7-8, 2013, Özyeğin University Library, Istanbul, Turkey

Overview
 OA Trend Topics
 Goals
 Focuses
 Evaluation of OA Resources

OA Trend Topics
 Linking publications to data and funding
schemes
 Big Data
 Interoperability
 Semantic Web
 Complementary platforms
 Open educational resources
 Open data management,…

Goals of The Presentation
 To share the METU experiences on
process of adding to the collection
development policy of the open access
resources
 To obtain the views and
recommendations of the participants with
feedback during/after the presentation in
order to finalize the OA resource
evaluation/selection criteria report

Why we prefer collection
development issues ?

Because, we need to think
as a whole and get
connected

Therefore We Focused On
 Thinking multi-directional
 Reviewing the scholarly communication
process
 Restructuring services offered to
information users
…as well as infrastructural and technical
issues.

It Is Necessary
 To determine and apply methods to
ensure OA to the scientific production of
institutions and related data sets without
limitation
but also,
 To consider in detail the OA resources
provided to information users within the
scope of collection development policies

Why It Is Necessary?
 Increasing number of OA resources
 OA collections of multiple formats
 Various data sharing services, policies,
regulations,…

Evaluation Process of OA
Resources
1. Current situation analysis
2. Determination of evaluation/selection
criteria
3. Deciding the form of OA resource sharing
on the web
4. Evaluation of the existing and new OA
resources and creation of resource
recommendation lists
5. Sharing identified resources on the web as
decided on

Determination of
Evaluation/Selection Criteria 1
 The longest period has been allocated
to the this stage
 There are no current report or guides
prepared by institutions/organizations
that are well-known in the area

 University web pages have been
examined
 Literature reviews have been accessed
as much as possible
 Contact has been made with groups and
individuals working on OA
Determination of

Determination of
 The general definition and policies
regarding OA
 Resources, general and detailed evaluation
sections
 After completion of the preliminary study,
we intend to group the criteria as relates to
the resource type, publishers and then
expand them.

OA Resource Definition
 These are resources presented to the
access of the users without any financial
or legal barriers (some resources may
only have opened some content as in
journals or may require registration)
…details will be listed at the final report

Policies 1
 Scientific OA resources (e.g. peer-
reviewed journals) are suitable for
evaluation
 Proposals made by the librarians take
priority regarding the resources to be
evaluated
 Suggestions can also be collected from
users but approval of the librarians is
required

Policies 2
 The journals to be evaluated should be
part of the main topic indexes.
 OA resources other than journals
(databases, collections of monographs,
websites, maps, image collections, etc.)
are also suitable for the evaluation

Evaluation Criteria (General)
 Does the resource support university's
research and educational areas?
 Is the resource being produced or
supported by respected authorities or
organizations in their field?
 Is the resource being published on a
regular basis and reliable?

Evaluation Criteria (General)
 Is the resource's interface easy to use?
 Does the use of the resource require a
special technology (a special application,
a custom font, etc.)?

Evaluation Criteria (Detailed)
Performed under the headings of:
 Presentation
 Relevance
 Objectivity
 Method
 Source
 Timeliness
 Editor and editorial board

Presentation:
 Language and writing style
 Structure
 Layout
 Integrity…

Relevance:
 Academic
 Topical
 Geographical
 Project based

Objectivity:
 Perspective
 Opinion
 Sponsorhip…

Method:
 The way of information produced:
 Research Reports
 How was the study carried out?
 Literature Reviews
 Is the review covering all known literature?

Source:
 Author details
 Organisations
 Publications…

Timeliness:
 Date
 Currency

Editor and editorial board
 Formal editorial/review board
 Academic information regarding to the
editor and editorial board
 Sufficient number of board members…

Questions in Mind
 How to manage open access budget?
 Where to evaluate OA resources within a
catalog or e-resource management tools?

References (Selected List)
 Open Access Resources at the UC Libraries:
http://www.cdlib.org/services/collections/openaccess.html
 Open Access Information Resources: How We Evaluate
Sites for Inclusion:
http://www.open.ac.uk/libraryservices/pages/oair/?id=20
 Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, Code of
Conduct http://oaspa.org/membership/code-of-conduct/
 Scholarly Open Access: Critical Analysis of Scholarly
Open-Access Publishing:
http://scholarlyoa.com/2012/11/30/criteria-for-
determining-predatory-open-access-publishers-2nd-
edition/

References (Selected List)
 Mullen, L. B. (2010). Open access and its practical impact
on the work of academic librarians : collection
development, public services, and the library and
information science literature . Oxford: Chandos Pub.
 Mullen, L. B. (2011). Open access and collection
develpment in academic libraries; digitization to
discovery. IFLA Satellite Conference: Acquisition and
Collection Develeopment Section. University of the Virgin
Islands.
 DOAJ Selection Criteria:
http://www.doaj.org/doaj?func=loadTempl&templ=about
#criteria
 Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association, Code of
Counduct: http://oaspa.org/membership/code-of-
conduct/

Thank you for your attention!
Please share your feedback
and opinions!
Dr. Burcu Bulut
bketen@metu.edu.tr
Emre Hasan Akbayrak
akbayrak@metu.edu.tr

Evaluation of Open Access (OA) Resources: METU Case Study

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