From: Sean Andrews <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2024 11:43:10 -0500

Hi Jim,

I am not familiar with the way it might interact with the databases and
metadata collections you are talking about, but probably the best place to
find the KU collection is in the OAPEN site that collects all their
releases.

https://library.oapen.org/browse?type=collection&value=Knowledge+Unlatched+%28KU%29

Unfortunately it doesn't seem that you can filter by collection in the
"Advanced Search" function so that is not helpful for the kind of discovery
you are talking about. But maybe there is a different trick that can be
used with the export of the data from their site (which is here:
https://www.oapen.org/article/metadata.)

Thanks,
Sean

-- 
Sean Johnson Andrews
[log in to unmask]
Associate Professor of Cultural Studies
Columbia College Chicago
703-597-6948 | skype: jnskolja | twitter: @skja76


On Fri, Apr 12, 2024 at 12:47 AM LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2024 22:27:03 -0700
>
> I may be missing something, or else this is instructive.  I've followed
> Knowledge Unlatched for a decade, always interested, but never quite
> persuaded.  (Full disclosure:  my institution does not subscribe.)  I
> realize on reading this and following the links that I have two questions
> about discovery.
>
> First, is there in any convenient place a conspectus of KU books,
> conveniently arranged for browsing by subject areas, that could entice me
> to look into books I've not heard of or not gotten around to admiring up
> close?  I can't find that on the KU website.  If we think of KU as a kind
> of redistributive publisher, I'd like to be able to browse *their* catalog.
>
> Second, what is the underlying strategy of discovery?  The access to MARC
> records on the website suggests that readers are *expected* to encounter
> these items in library online catalogs where institutions have taken the
> time and trouble to import MARC records -- and then they will be found only
> by those using classic discovery tools with a particular personal focus.
> For example, if there is the definitive work on the lesser works of Fulke
> Greville in the series, I will find it if I am pursuing Greville but not
> otherwise.
>
> I say again, I may be missing something, even something obvious, and I
> apologize for that if that's the case, and would appreciate being set
> right.  But I have a growing concern about how users discover new
> scholarship in the real world.  How do these very good books get found?
>
> Jim O'Donnell
> ASU
>

[SNIP]