October 19 – 25 is International Open Access Week, an annual worldwide effort to raise awareness of initiatives to make research materials more readily available. Sponsored by the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), International Open Access Week is now in its eighth year.
One tool to help you advocate for ready access to scholarly information is the Open Access Button. A bookmarklet that works in all modern browsers, the Open Access Button performs two functions:
- It allows you to search for alternate versions of an article that may be freely available in campus institutional repositories or on open sites, with a pass-through search to Google Scholar.
- It allows you to report papers that you would like to have opened for wider access. Open Access Button volunteers and staff will then contact the paper author and ask him or her to make a copy of the research available into already established repositories.
Your Open Access Button Account and Privacy
The Open Access Button is free but does require that you create an individual account. The Open Access Button project does collect and store information about the papers you have tried to access. The metadata of papers you search and try to view, as well as your username and approximate location, are used to map worldwide denials of access. The aggregate data is also used to advocate for open access. You personal account allows you to store a personal “wishlist” of papers that you would like to see opened. Read more about how your information is used by the Open Access Button project.
Installing the Open Access Button
Once you have created and logged into your Open Access Button account, you can drag the button to your browser bookmarks toolbar.
When viewing a paper that does not seem to be available to you in full text, click the Open Access Button for a quick search of Google Scholar for alternate versions. Or, add the item to your wishlist to let the Open Access Team know that you were unable to access the item.
Don’t Forget about Find it!
Using the Open Access Button is an easy way to advocate for improved access to scholarly works. But don’t forget, you can use our Find it! Button or Link in most library databases–including Google Scholar–to locate subscribed full text of articles or to request an article through the ILLiad Interlibrary Loan service. Wheter open access or not, the Libraries have your research needs covered.