An introduction to
service
Jonathan Griffin
Deputy Chief Executive
Publishers Licensing Society
What is Access to Research?
1. A free service that enables local libraries to provide their users with
access to a wealth of research:
6,000+ journals
10 million+ articles
!
What is Access to Research?
2.
The content comes from the UK’s leading publishers, including:
What is Access to Research?
3.
The content covers a broad range of subjects
Percentage of titles
0.0
Art, architecture & Applied arts
Business & Economics
Earth & Environmental Sciences
Engineering & Applied Sciences
General
Health & Biological Sciences
History & Archaeology
Journalism & Communications
Languages & Literatures
Law, Politics & Government
Music, Dance, Drama &Film
Philosophy & Religion
Physical Sciences & Mathematics
Social Sciences
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
20.0
What is Access to Research?
4.
It uses a well established digital platform called Summon, which is
already widely used in academic libraries
What is Access to Research?
5.
It is a walk-in service that is only accessible from terminals & wifi
within libraries
It does not include
remote access
Why is the service being offered?
The Finch Group was convened by
the government to explore how
access to publicly funded research
could be expanded . . .
Dame Janet Finch chaired the Working
Group on Expanding Access to Published
Research Findings
Why is the service being offered?
One of the Finch Report’s
recommendations:
That major subscriptionbased publishers should
license public libraries to
provide free access to
their journals and
conference proceedings.
How does the service work?
Searches start at the Access to Research home page
How does the service work?
Accept Ts & Cs including non-commercial use, single print-off, no downloads
How does the service work?
Search results are generated by the Summon system
How does the service work?
Individual search results link through directly to Publisher’s site
How does the service work?
Articles are typically accessed as PDFs
Who has delivered this service?
• …in partnership with librarians through
• and the generous support of
• and the willing contribution of publishers and encouragement of their
trade associations:
Implementation
1. The service launched in January 2014
2. It is running as a 2 year pilot, finishing in December 2015
3. Open to all local authorities across the entire UK who wish to sign up
4. Usage data & qualitative research will be used to evaluate its impact
in Q4 2015
What resources are available to assist
in setting up the service?
• We have created various
resources to help implement the
service
(based on feedback from the
technical trial)
http://www.pls.org.uk/news/ContentStyle/PLItechnicalpilot.aspx?Pa
geView=Shared
Is Taunton special?
Qualitative research
Value to users
•
•
•
•
Types of users
What insights are they seeking?
Do they find them?
What do they do with them, once they’ve found them?
Further information
www.accesstoresearch.org.uk
accesstoresearch@pls.org.uk