Re: Usage of Open Access articles

["David Groenewegen" <d.groenewegen@ballarat.edu.au>]

While I have no doubt that what Joe suggests here will happen (and may
already be happening for all I know), I don't see why it will reduce usage
of OA versions in a significant way - because being able to find a copy
doesn't mean that you can get a copy. Just as users now skim though a list
of results in an aggregator database in search of full text articles, so
future users will do this on search engines. Smart search engine designers
will offer the equivalent of the "Limit to full text" buttons we already
see in many paid resources because it will make their search engine more
attractive. I tried the beta of the new Thomson thing and it was of no use
to me at all because it only works for US libraries, and my library has
none of the required Gale subs. The power of OA is not that the article is
easy to find, it is that the article is easy to _get_.

Joe also presupposes that the cunning publishers will figure out this
search engine optimization thing while the ignorant OA saps will continue
to do nothing while this happens. Which seems a little optimistic.

That said, things like Google Wallet
(http://pandia.com/sw-2005/31-wallet.html) could change the equation,
because if the publishers work with that system, and if they make an
article cheap enough (ie considerably less than the $20-$30 they charge
now), then Google would have an incentive to point to the publisher sites
in preference to the OA ones, because there would be money in it for
Google, and searchers would pay because it was less hassle and cost than
finding an OA version. And some Uni admins will like it because they will
just give access to the Wallet account to their academics, instead of
having to give them all a credit card. In which case we will all be in
trouble.

David Groenewegen
Information Resources Management Librarian
Information Services
University of Ballarat
PO Box 355
Ballarat VIC 3353
AUSTRALIA

Ph: +61 3 5327 8078
Fx: +61 3 5327 8231

email: d.groenewegen@ballarat.edu.au 

>>> espositoj@gmail.com 06/23/05 9:21 am >>>

A post just appeared on this list, which I mostly agree with, but there is
one item that I wish to comment upon.  The point was made that Open Access
articles are more frequently used than are proprietary articles.  While
this may be true today, this is an advantage that OA articles will not
have much longer, as proprietary publishers will wake up to search-engine
marketing and search-engine optimization in particular soon enough.  
Indeed, one practical effect of the Google Print program is that it is
teaching publishers how the Web works.  There was an announcement on this
subject from Thomson/Gale just today.  Publishers will begin to expose
more content to search-engine spiders and drive up "hits" from keyword
searches.  This will entail wholesale redesign of Web sites. For people
unfamiliar with this marketing phenomenon, please Google "search engine
optimization" or go to (for instance) http://pandia.com.
 
Shrewd publishers (a show of hands, please) will see that this kind of
concentrated marketing effort lends itself to larger,
commercially-oriented organizations and will use it to push back the gains
that OA advocates have made over the past two years and to marginalize
further smaller publishers.

There are many reasons to support OA, but increased use of scholarly
materials is not among them.

-- 
Joe Esposito