Re: Cataloguing open access

[David Goodman <dgoodman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU>]

The answer is embarrassingly simple: periodicals typically get cataloged
when the first issue is received, or the first volume is sent to the
binder, or the order is placed. Open access journals simply have had no
routine way of being sent for cataloging.

Most libraries now have developed better methods of handling these items,
partly with the help of such programs as SFX or LinkFinder or
SerialSolutions.

There remains the problem of distinguishing those open access and free
materials that are worth cataloging, as many such items--not BMC's-- have
been unstable and have had unreliable access. A library thus needs a
routine for following up on items occasionally to make sure they still
exist. This is still an underdeveloped area.


 On Tue, 17 Jun 2003, jan velterop wrote:

> Dear Librarians,
>
> Although many of you do include them, it is sometimes a bit frustrating to
> notice that not in every library open access journals are properly
> catalogued . Surely, it can't be because they don't have to be paid for in
> order to get access?
>
> I would like to make the case that authors who publish in open access
> journals materially contribute to the improvement of scientific
> communication and therefore deserve their articles not to be excluded from
> library catalogues, even though it is in the nature of open access
> articles that they can be easily found using web search engines such as
> Google. Inclusion in library catalogues not only ensures that they can be
> browsed and found in local searches, but it also aids the general
> acceptability and visibility of open access journals as alternatives to
> the expensive and disseminationally (sorry!) restrictive traditional
> subscription-based ones.
>
> The cataloguing data for the almost 100 journals that BioMed Central
> publishes can be found here:
> http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/libraries/catalog
>
> Thank you for including them.
>
> Jan Velterop
> BioMed Central