Dear colleagues,

There is a lot in this report about interlending and document supply in HE and specialist libraries. If you haven't already seen it, well worth reading the main report and Research Report 1 in particular.

Jenny



Dr Jenny Brine 

Subject Librarian and Acting Supervisor, Interlending and Document Supply

Lancaster University Library 

Lancaster 

LA1 4YH 

Tel: 01524 592528 

Fax: 01524 63806 

Personal email: [log in to unmask] 





-----Original Message-----

From: A general Library and Information Science list for news and discussion. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gentleman, Sarah

Sent: 16 December 2009 13:41

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Efficiency and quality of research is being damaged by lack of access, says new RIN report



The new Research Information Network (RIN) report Overcoming barriers: Access to research information content <http://www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/using-and-accessing-information-resources/overcoming-barriers-access-research-information>  finds that researchers are encountering difficulties in getting access to the content they need and that this is having a significant impact on the quality and efficiency of their research. Based on five separate studies, our report looks at the nature and scale of key restrictions on access to information resources of importance to researchers, the impact of these restrictions and the ways in which they might be alleviated or overcome.



The report’s findings show that the impact of this lack of access on the efficiency, as well as the quality, of research across the higher education sector and beyond is very real. New technological developments, including moves towards open access publishing models and the availability of e-books may help to solve some of theses problems, but there is little evidence from the report to show that they have had a positive impact to date.



The report examines the frequency with which researchers encounter problems in accessing content; researchers’ perceptions of the ease with which they can gain access and the issue of researcher access to information resources in the public and private sector which are not formally published and which are often subject to copyright restrictions. It also reviews the arrangements academic and research libraries have in place to provide access to researchers who are not members of their institutions



The report’s key finding is that access is still a major concern for researchers. Although researchers report having no problems finding content in this age of electronic information, gaining access is another matter due to the complexity of licensing arrangements, restrictions placed on researchers accessing content outside of their own institution and the laws protecting public and private sector information. This means that research into important information resources can be missing. Researchers report that they are frustrated by this lack of immediate access and this slows their progress, hinders collaborative work and may well affect the quality and integrity of the work produced.



Many librarians, and researchers, fear that unless licensing and technical issues are resolved, moves towards a digital environment may impose new barriers, as researchers face restrictions on access to resources which would have formerly been accessible to them in print. With impending  funding cuts in higher education institutions’ budgets next year, libraries are already facing increasingly difficult decisions about which subscriptions to keep as  cancellations  will only add to these problems for researchers. Our report shows that libraries need to ensure they can continue to provide access to content through a range of sources, including interlibrary loans and document supply services, and that they implement efficient, effective and user-friendly systems to ensure researchers can gain easy access.



An idea solution for researchers would be the implementation of a national library membership card to enable access and borrowing rights at all higher education institutions in the UK. However, our study finds that the infrastructure to provide this in higher education institutions is lacking.



Libraries are also struggling to allow external researchers’ access to the resources they have available online and few institutions have been able to implement the recommendations of the HAERVI (Higher Education Access to e-Resources in Visited Institutions) project, which called on the support and cooperation of institutional managers and IT services to enable libraries to offer better access.



Other barriers include intellectual property and copyright restrictions (on public and private sector information and orphan works), and researchers are concerned by current moves to strengthen these restrictions. The RIN, SCONUL and UUK will maintain a close watch on developments in the intellectual property regime and ensure that researchers’ interests are taken into account.



This report calls on higher education institutions, librarians, publishers, funders and governments to work together to reduce the barriers to accessing research information content and highlights a number of recommendations for  measures that need to be taken to overcome the barriers to access currently being experienced by the research community.



The report is available at www.rin.ac.uk/our-work/using-and-accessing-information-resources/overcoming-barriers-access-research-information 



---



Sarah Gentleman



Communications Officer



Research Information Network



96 Euston Road



London NW1 2DB



 



telephone: 020 7412 7241 



 



Follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/research_inform



RIN Facebook group http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/City-of-London-United-Kingdom/Research-Information-Network/29441497954 



 



email: [log in to unmask] 



website: www.rin.ac.uk <http://www.rin.ac.uk/>