Lack of access prevents many from benefiting from educational resources. Digital technologies now enable educational resources, such as books, to be openly available to those with access to the Internet. This study examined the financial viability of a religious publisher's putting free digital versions of eight of its books on the Internet. The total cost of putting these books online was $940.00. Over a 10-week period these books were downloaded 102,256 times and print sales of these books increased 26%. Comparisons with historical book sales and sales of comparable titles suggest a positive but modest connection between this increase and the online availability of the free books. This dissertation may be downloaded for free at http://etd.byu.edu.

The thesis addresses lawyers’ information seeking in England and Wales. It aims to gain an understanding of lawyers’ information needs and use of resources relating to case law, statute and commentary, both hardcopy and electronic, with an interest in open access resources in particular. The study comprised of semi-structured interviews of 11 legal professionals qualified to practice in England and Wales. Data was analysed using thematic analysis. Questions were designed to elicit what resources participants used, what they found advantageous or disadvantageous about these resources, and any other factors that influenced whether a resource was used or not. The homogeneous participant group means results are mostly applicable to solicitors early in their career working in large firms, but some conclusions can be drawn as to use of open access by legal professionals. An electronic format is no barrier to use. Open access resources are used alongside commercial and free resources. Open access resources are perceived as advantageous for specific tasks. What is perceived as advantageous or disadvantageous depends on a number of underlying factors, such as task, task complexity and environment. However, although having beneficial features can affect resource use, advantageous characteristics are not enough to guarantee use. Lloyd’s theory of information literacy is of help in explaining resource selection. The study’s findings support other models of information seeking behaviour, especially Ellis’s model.

This Master thesis is about building-related public art as future cultural heritage and its management, preservation, and digital accessibility from a value perspective. Furthermore, the aim is to develop proposals for a management model and public tools that could benefit the accessibility of public art and thus also its preservation. A management model that provides an overview of management objects of public art and that can be shared with the public to create understanding, participation, and interaction. The thesis includes a critical report on the planning of a GIS project. GIS is a geographic information system, it provides tools for creating, editing, and analyzing data.The purpose of the critical report is to highlight that GIS can be used in an easily way but also requires a critically reflexive approach. The approach in the GIS project is critical, interdisciplinary and the mapping is based on cultural presence as a method. The result shows that geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a useful tool and can be easily use with the free ArcGIS software. There is some of the areas that GIS users need to handle as risk analysis, legislation, interdisciplinary and intercultural perspective. It is important that the material created with GIS is shared with the public to create understanding, participation, and interaction. Thus, it is relevant to contextualize the content from a historical perspective and in relation to the present and the target group. Therefore, is important to keep in mind that norms and values change over time and that making the material available can mean reaching a global audience, an intercultural approach could be beneficial.

Die Umsetzung des Open-Access-Leitgedankens am Beispiel des Science-Technology-Medicine-Sektors ist Gegenstand der vorliegenden Masterthesis. Ziel war es, den Umsetzungsgrad der Checkliste zur Etablierung von Open Access der Schwerpunktinitiative Digitale Information in ausgewählten Forschungseinrichtungen zu evaluieren und Umsetzungspro-bleme sowie Lösungsansätze zu explorieren. Dazu wurden die vier großen außeruniversitären Forschungsgesellschaften als wichtige Vertreter des STM-Sektors in Deutschland betrachtet: Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft und Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. Pro Gesellschaft wurden die Bibliotheken von zwei Instituten untersucht. Dazu wurden Experteninterviews mit den jeweiligen Verantwortlichen für Open Access geführt und mittels Qualitativer Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet. Die Evaluation hat gezeigt, dass bei den untersuchten Einrichtungen zwei Typen bezüglich der Umsetzung von Open Access existieren. In der einen Gruppe werden mehr als die Hälfte der Checklistenpunkte umgesetzt, wogegen bei der anderen Gruppe nur jeweils ein Punkt mit „umgesetzt“ bewertet wurde. Im explorativen Teil der Untersuchung zeigte sich, dass die relevantesten Vorbehalte gegenüber Open Access, die aus dem Forschungsstand bekannt waren, auch von den Befragten am häufigsten und ohne Zutun der Interviewführung genannt wurden. Unerwartete Aspekte ergaben sich zum Thema Zweitveröffentlichungsrecht. Hierzu gehören die rechtlichen Bedenken seitens der Wissenschaftler aufgrund mangelnder Erfahrung und die Befürchtung, dass ein Hinwegsetzen über Verlagsvorgaben zukünftigen Veröffentlichungen im Weg stehen könnte.

The purpose of this paper is to examine if employees at Swedish higher education libraries recommend shadow libraries, also known as Black Open Access, to its patrons as an alternative way to find information. We also want to see if there are any common patterns in the attitudes towards shadow libraries in general as well as the usage of them. Data was collected via a web based survey that yielded 239 responses. We found that only a small minority of employees had ever recommended the usage of shadow libraries to patrons and that few situations usually allow opportunities to recommend them. The results also show three themes of attitudes: 1) Employees with no degree in library and/or information sciences and that were already familiar with shadow libraries were most likely to agree with the opinion that information should not be treated as a commodity. 2) Employees with shorter working experience, were already familiar with shadow libraries and previously had referred patrons to them were more likely to agree with the opinion that shadow libraries favor an open and democratic society. 3) Younger employees with a gender identity other than man or woman and that previously had referred patrons to shadow libraries were more likely to agree with the opinion that shadow libraries are an acceptable alternative information source

No description available.

The events of 9-11 resulted in a slew of policy, procedural, and organizational changes within many government departments as the U.S. government took many steps to enhance security to prevent future terrorist attacks. The emphasis on high threat targets by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other government agencies, such as the White House, the Capitol and Congressional office buildings, major infrastructure and facilities within US cities, airline travel, ports and economic supply chains has generated a great deal of debate and attention. There are however, targets that are considered low risk situated in high threat areas that also provide open access to the public for which security professionals are responsible that should not be overlooked during the War on Terror. The question is how low risk targets in high threat areas should be protected? What resource distribution makes sense? What practices should be applied to achieve security? The purpose of this research is to look at one of these targets, the Smithsonian Institution and how the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Protection Services (SI OPS) responded to the terror attacks of 9-11 and the ongoing threat. Four factors will be examined: (1) the screening process, (2) the budget, (3) the security policy formulation process, and (4) training. The study focus is based on data derived from semi-structured interviews and a review of SI documents. Examining post 9-11 security changes allows one to see how SI OPS has evolved in its attempt to meet both internal security demands and expectations against an external security concern. The findings reveal SI OPS initially underwent significant changes within the four factors in the three years following the attacks of 9-11. However, limited resources and manpower strains have played major roles in the subsequent decline in some of the factors after their initial increases. Although a return to the security levels immediately following 9-11 may not be imminent, it is recommended that OPS management make stronger efforts to communicate with non-security managers and return to more stringent visitor screening procedures. / Ph. D.

Yes / Social media platforms such as Twitter have allowed for a substantial increase in collaboration between academics, allowing access to information and advice from one side of the world to the other. This is especially true among both archaeologists and zooarchaeologists, who often turn to Twitter with faunal bones that they have been unable to identify so that another pair of zooarchaeological eyes can help. In many cases, Twitter has allowed access to reference collections that would have otherwise been inaccessible due to distance and monetary reasons. Based on numerous experiences in using the zooarchaeology community on Twitter to successfully identify archaeofaunal bones, this paper proposes that the next logical step for continuing collaboration among zooarchaeologists to is to develop an international digital database of faunal bone references, crowdsourced from reference collections of zooarchaeologists and institutions around the world. This database could bring zooarchaeology into the Open Access movement that will arguably define the future of archaeology in the digital world.

Die Universitätsbibliothek Chemnitz – als zentrale Informations-Service-Einrichtung der TU – stellt sich der wandelnden Entwicklung in der Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologie durch die Möglichkeiten des Internets. Der Anteil der im Open Access veröffentlichten Artikel steigt weltweit. An der TU Chemnitz waren es 2014 bereits 10% des Gesamtartikelaufkommens. Das Open-Access-Team unterstützt die Wissenschaftler bei der Auswahl geeigneter Journale bzw. Verlage, berät bei der Klärung rechtlicher Fragen und bei der Finanzierung von Veröffentlichungen. Einfache Workflows, transparente Verfahren und standardisierte Softwareumgebungen kennzeichnen die Dienstleistung. Das Beratungs- und Marketingkonzept auf Basis der Qualitätssicherung, beinhaltet verschiedenste Kommunikationswege und vertieft damit das Verständnis und die Akzeptanz für die freie Verfügbarkeit wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse. / The University Library Chemnitz, as the central provider of information services at the TU Chemnitz, embraces the possibilities of the world wide web in changing the nature of information and communication patterns. The digital transformation is accompanied by the growth of Open Access publishing in the global scientific community. At the TU Chemnitz, 10 per cent of all research papers published in 2014 were immediately made available through Open Access. The Open Access Team of the University Library supports scientists and scholars by helping with the selection of suitable Open Access journals for publication, by funding Open Access publications and by providing guidance on licensing and legal technicalities. Clear and simple workflows, transparent procedures and standardised software platforms characterise the services activities. The consulting and marketing concept, through a distinct focus on quality assurance, serves to foster the comprehension and the acceptance for the free distribution of scientific knowledge among all members of the TU Chemnitz.

Der Vortrag stellt zunächst die Allianz-Initiative im Bereich Digitale Information und deren verschiedene Handlungsfelder vor. Danach widmet er sich eingehender dem Handlungsfeld Open Access und beleuchtet die verschiedenen Aktivitäten der Allianz in diesem Feld. An verschiedenen Beispielen wird zudem erläutert, welchen Impact die verschiedenen Aktivitäten entfaltet haben. Abschließend wird ein Ausblick in die thematische Planung für die nächsten Jahre gegeben.