From: "Jim O'Donnell" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2024 15:01:34 -0700

With thanks to several, esp. Ronald Snijder of OAPEN.  Here's what I have learned.  

1.  Once in the OAPEN/DOAB database, you can filter by "Collection" or "Grantor" and see KU items (over 4,000 so far).  I do not yet see a way to filter and sort by subject area, but it may be there and my efforts have simply failed.  How the average user would know to execute such an OAPEN search, I cannot tell. 

2.  In our online catalog, a search on the exact string "Knowledge Unlatched" brings up 492 items, or about ten percent of what's out there.  There is not an intuitive way to get to the OAPEN/DOAB page for a search within our catalog (i.e., I haven't found one).  But a search of our databases on the same phrase comes up null.  May I call this a limited functionality?

3.  I realize that what I am probably looking for is something akin to a publisher's catalog, provided by KU and organized by them to maximum marketing and information effect.  Yes, KU is not a publisher; but yes, KU is very like a publisher and has the same interest in making known what books it has opened that a publisher has in making known what it has contracted, edited, and formally published.  That feels as if it would be relatively easy for KU to do and would help scholars, librarians, and potential subscribers understand and appreciate KU and its mission and achievements.  

I said in my first note that I felt strongly I must be missing something and it turns out I was missing the DOAB searchability, which I think is still quite limited.  I may be missing other things and would be glad to be set straight.  And it would be interesting to hear KU's thoughts about discovery and discoverability of their titles.

Jim O'Donnell
ASU

On Sun, Apr 14, 2024 at 12:55 PM LIBLICENSE <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
From: Ronald Snijder <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 14 Apr 2024 17:45:49 +0000

Actually, there is a way to filter. 

Start here:


Then, use the "Add filter" button to add additional filters. 

If you have very specific questions, please send me a direct mail.

Hope this is useful!

Kind regards,

Ronald Snijder, PhD


CTO/Head of Research OAPEN Foundation

Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 5

PO Box 90407

2509 LK The Hague

The Netherlands

(My timezone is CET/CEST)

 

email: [log in to unmask]

www.oapen.org

ORCID: 0000-0001-9260-4941

 

[log in to unmask]&ep=mCardFromTile" style="text-decoration:underline;color:rgb(5,99,193)" target="_blank">Book time with Ronald Snijder: 1 hour Teams meeting


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. 


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]