This week's digest contains 1 message:
1.  Taylor & Francis launch White Paper on facilitating discovery of free online content

(1)-----------------------------
Date:      Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:45:25 +0100
From:     "Mhearban, Thaira" <Thaira.Mhearban@tandf.co.uk>
Subject:  T&F launch White Paper on facilitating discovery of free online content

Taylor & Francis launch a new White Paper on facilitating discovery of free-to-view online content

The increasing amount of free-to-view online content poses a significant challenge for today’s librarian in facilitating discovery.

Potentially such free resources could be of great value for education purposes- teaching, learning and research -but how do librarians determine the value of all these online resources when ‘free’ doesn’t necessarily mean easy to find?

Taylor & Francis recently conducted research via focus groups, telephone interviews and a survey (eliciting over 500 responses) to explore librarians’ opinions on the availability and usefulness of free online resources – the results of which are now being released in the form of a White Paper.

Key themes

Our research identified what librarians think about the following issues in relation to facilitating discovery:

- The growth and value of free content
- Resource challenges for librarians
- Identification and selection of content
- The role of the library
- Information literacy
- User needs
- The role of the Publisher

Research Headlines
- 92% of librarians agree that free online resources are ‘very important’
- Librarians feel they are well-placed to provide expertise in free content selection and discovery
- 84% of respondents said that 10% or less of their time was currently devoted to indexing free online content
- Key challenges for librarians relating to making free resources more discoverable within their institutions are: volume  growth, unknown permanence, and difficulties relating to quality assessment;
- The most important criteria for selection of free online access was relevance of that content to the institution’s activities  but brand and reputation factors were also key.
- Librarians are already investing in understanding their user community needs and in developing their catalogue interfaces accordingly. 

The White Paper identifies that the role of librarians relating to facilitating discovery of free online content falls into 2 key areas:
- Evaluating and selecting resources following a clear methodology
- Providing guidelines and training

It seems there is a changing perception of librarians from ‘purchaser of content’ to ‘facilitators of discovery’.

Taylor & Francis commissioned this research as they wanted to understand   the challenges that librarians face in facilitating access to free-to-view online resources, alongside the paid resources they are more traditionally used to managing. As a publisher of both types of content, we want to provide help and support for librarians in the new challenges that they face in their evolving roles.

Dr David Green, Global Journals Publishing Director, comments, "While we understand that the questions we posed encompassed a world of free-to-view material beyond the traditional book and journal content that is normally associated with the offerings of major scientific, scholarly and professional publishers, we nevertheless are acutely aware that there are key roles that we need to perform and a whole range of new services and products that we should look to develop. All key stakeholders in the information and research communication worlds are aware that 'free' does not mean cost-free.  However, free-to-access and free-to-view, with free content availability in models such as 'freemium offerings', are among the paths towards global access that we are all now embracing and experimenting with."

Gillian Howcroft, e-Products Director, adds "Permanence, quality and discoverability are valued services we already provide, but there is always more to be done.   Taylor & Francis is supporting all the current Open Access mandates and working with authors, institutions, funders and policy makers to ensure we develop robust, transparent and trusted services for all involved.  In terms of current initiatives, we are exploring what more we can do in relation to discoverability and metadata, particularly in open journals, but in subscribed journals too."

For those who want to take a look at the White Paper, this is available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence: http://www.tandf.co.uk/libsite/pdf/TF-whitepaper-free-resources.pdf

Follow us on Twitter @LibraryLantern to receive the latest commentary on the White Paper and to sign up to our webinars. Visit our newsroom at: http://www.tandfonline.com/page/press-releases

 For more information, please contact:
Aalia Oosman, Library & Communication Manager, Taylor & Francis Group Journals email: aalia.osman@tandf.co.uk

About Taylor & Francis Group

Taylor & Francis Group partners with researchers, scholarly societies, universities and libraries worldwide to bring knowledge to life. As one of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly journals, books, ebooks and reference works our content spans all areas of Humanities, Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Science, and Technology and Medicine.

From our network of offices in Oxford, New York, Philadelphia, Boca Raton, Boston, Melbourne, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Stockholm, New Delhi and Johannesburg, Taylor & Francis staff provide local expertise and support to our editors, societies and authors and tailored, efficient customer service to our library colleagues.