Access
A few days ago, I finally got around to installing a VPN client software on my laptop at home so that I can access my library’s catalog when I’m not on campus. This is a major step forward in terms of convenience because it allows me to
- go to Google Scholar and search for articles and books
- use the link resolver to see if my local library has access
- go to the publisher’s page
- download not only the citation but the entire article with Zotero
Zotero is truly awesome once you use it in that way - not just as a bibliographic database, but as a digital archive. And as I found out, my university library has a very good selection. The only trouble is that many researchers may not be aware at all that the access they have is provided to them by their library. “We don’t need you any more - everything is available on the Internet these days” seems to be a phrase that librarians frequently hear these days. If there is a party involved in the discussion over Open Access and how we treat scientific information that desperately needs to wake up, it isn’t librarians or the publishing houses. It’s the bulk of researchers out there.
