Implementing Open Access Policy: First case studies

When implementing open access, policy pioneers and flagship institutions alike have faced considerable challenges in meeting their own aims and achieving a recognized success. Legitimate authority, sufficient resources and the right timing are crucial, but the professionals charged with implementing policy still need several years to accomplish significant progress. This study defines a methodological standard for evaluating the first generation of open access policies. Evaluating implementation establishes evidence, enables reflection, and may foster the emergence of a second generation of open access policies. While the study is based on a small number of cases, these case studies cover most of the pioneer institutions, present the most significant issues and offer an international overview. Each case is reconstructed individually on the basis of public documents and background information, and supported by interviews with professionals responsible for open access implementation. This article presents the highlights from each case study. The results are utilized to indicate how a second generation of policies might define open access as a key component of digital research infrastructures that provide inputs and outputs for research, teaching and learning in real time.</p

Innovations of subject service in National Science Library, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the implications

Looking at the development of subject librarians and subject services in Chinese libraries during the past decade, this paper highlights the innovative concepts and practices of subject librarians in National Science Library (NSL), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). After a two-year trial period, NSL, CAS, with 39 full-time subject librarians, has begun to provide personalized, subject-speci.c, and knowledge-based services to the end-users since 2006. Such a practice manifests that subject librarians and subject services should be embedded into the research process and working environment. And, the subject service should be made available to the users beyond the space restriction and time limit, and .nally create a congenial environment for users. Librarians should develop new expertise to offer the user-oriented service, changing the role from book keepers to research instructors, advisors, even chief information officer (CIO) or chief knowledge officer (CKO).</p

On the framing of patent citations and academic paper citations in refl ecting knowledge linkage: A discussion of the discrepancy of their divergent value-orientations

It has been widely recognized that academic paper citations will reflect scientific knowledge linkage. Patent citations are similar to academic paper citations in many aspects: Citation frequency distribution is often skewed; citation frequency varies from one subject field to another and authors&rsquo;/inventors&rsquo;preference for citing relevant literature is usually confined to their own native language. However, regardless of these seemingly similarities, the patent citation is unique and special. It is constructed by incorporating information providers from multiple sources, such as from examiners, inventors, attorneys and/or the public. It is driven by a value-orientation for the monopolization of market production under regulations of Patent Laws. It is also practiced under the sway of an industrial culture embedded with a notion of &ldquo;creative destruction&rdquo;. In view of the contextual complexities of patent citations, simply applying the data criteria and citation behavior analysis of academic paper citations to that of patentbibliometrics for the purpose of reflecting knowledge linkage is both conceptually and technically illogical and unreasonable. This paper attempts to delve into the issue of the currently misconceived assertions and practice about &quot;transplanting&rdquo; the methodology of academic paper citations en masse indiscriminately into the practice of patent citations. It is hoped that such a study would yield improved result stemming from the practice of patent citations for reflecting knowledge linkage in the future.</p

Research on the development of thesaurus in China

Based on the statistics of 130 thesauri having been published in China so far, this article analyzes the development of thesauri in China from the origin, publication year, academic disciplines and quantity of entries collected, and re-defines the development stages. In addition, by collecting the 1,000 relevant research papers, the article also analyzes the theoretical studies from the aspects of the quantity of papers and research subjects in order to give a clear picture of the development and features of the researches on thesaurus in China.</p

A visual analysis of the usage efficiency of library books

The monographic collections in academic libraries have undergone a period of tremendous growth in volume, in subject diversity, and in formats during the recent several decades. Readers may find it difficult to prioritize which book(s) should be borrowed for a specific purpose. The log data of book loan record may serve as a visible indicator for the more sought-after books by the readers. This paper describes our experimental efforts in works in a university library setting. The visual analysis is thought to provide an effective way to extract the book usage information, which may yield new insights into a host of other related technical as well as user behavior issues. Initial experiment has demonstrated that the proposed approach as articulated in this article can actually benefit end-users as well as library collection development personnel in their endeavor of book selections with effective measure.</p

Academic institutional repositories in China: A survey of CALIS member libraries

Purpose: China Academic Library &amp; Information System (CALIS) planned to launch an institutional repository (IR) project to promote IR development and open access at colleges and universities in China. In order to get to know the current state of IRs in academic institutions, with the help of Peking University Library, CALIS Administrative Center conducted this survey.Design/methodology/approach: We conducted an online survey of CALIS member libraries.Findings: Firstly, the development of IRs at China's colleges and universities is still in its infancy. Secondly, the Chinese colleges and universities have reached a consensus on the objective for having an IR. Thirdly, they are having high expectations of IR&nbsp;functions. Fourthly, they prefer to establish a centralized IR system at a minimum cost. Finally, there are both similarities and differences between the Chinese academic institutions and their counterparts in other countries in the state of IR development.Research limitations: The questionnaire needs to be improved because there is a lack of enough questions for those who do not plan to build an IR. Comparatively lower rate of valid questionnaire return can affect the accuracy of the results. It is hard to go into an in-depth discussion only based on the data collected from this questionnaire survey, and consequently, the findings from the survey can hardly present an accurate and comprehensive picture of the current state of IR development in the academic sector in China.Practical implications: The survey results provide essential foundation for CALIS IR project, and meanwhile the research can serve as a reference source for the future studies of the development of IRs at China's colleges and universities.Originality/value: It is the first national survey focused on the development of IRs in academic institutions in China.</p

Copyright agencies in Beijing, China

Based on a study of copyright agencies in Beijing area, this paper reviews the historical development of the work of copyright agencies and their agents. It analyzes their business related problems that these copyright agencies and agents are facing today. This paper also proposes a few remedial measures that may usher this copyright industry into a more sustainable development and also with a more promising outlook.</p

What does the Web of Science five-year synchronous impact factor have to offer?

With a random sample of 10 JCR (Science) subject areas it is shown that the 2-year and the 5-year impact factor of journals lead statistically to the same ranking per category. Yet in a majority of cases, the 5-year impact factor is larger than the 2-year one.</p

Development and construction of China

Libraries in China's higher education institutions have been developing in keeping pace with the flourishing development of China's higher education. This article aims to make an introduction to the construction of China's higher education libraries, especially the recent three decades' achievements since China's reform and opening-up in 1978. In this article, the authors draw a general picture of the development of libraries in China's higher education institutions, covering such eight aspects as management, types and positioning, organizational structure and personnel, expenditure and buildings, reader service, building and sharing of resources as well as automation system.</p