Now that Bsky is much livelier, re-running a query started months ago (perhaps by @isoutar.bsky.social ?). If you undertake non-university research (heritage, policy, family history, journalism etc.) how do you access paywalled academic content? Do you know about & use uni. OA repositories? 1/2 - ThreadSky | a Reddit-style client for Bluesky

eicathomefinn.bsky.social • 212 days ago

Now that Bsky is much livelier, re-running a query started months ago (perhaps by @isoutar.bsky.social ?). If you undertake non-university research (heritage, policy, family history, journalism etc.) how do you access paywalled academic content? Do you know about & use uni. OA repositories? 1/2

Comments

airminded.org•212 days ago

My current solution is being employed by a uni but in a non-academic role! Otherwise definitely use institutional repositories, ResearchGate/Academia etc. And make sure all my pubs are available as green OA on my own website and at Knowledge Commons

airminded.org•212 days ago

In Australia I would say the best advice is to get an account with the National Library of Australia and your state library - free for all residents and gives access to some surprisingly good databases and more limited but still useful book and journal collections

airminded.org•212 days ago

*ebook (obviously they have fantastic physical book collections!)

merje.bsky.social•212 days ago

I didn’t know free access was available! Definitely looking into this

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

It's usually to the so-called 'Green' version (so, the version that goes to be copy-edited, rather than the so-called 'version of record').

kleinelevin.bsky.social•212 days ago

Why pay when you can scihub

eamonngriffin.bsky.social•212 days ago

Folks might like the Unpaywall browser extension, which'll link abstracts to full-text versions of the article in question if there's one accessible online https://unpaywall.org/products/extension

suemajor.bsky.social•212 days ago

I use remote London Library access to JSTOR, but it's very expensive. Also have a limited amount of alumni university access.

foggyknitter.bsky.social•212 days ago

You can have a free account on JSTOR and read 100 articles a month. Though there are some that aren't free, but I've still found it very useful

suemajor.bsky.social•212 days ago

That's interesting, I didn't know that!

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks: no something I was aware of and good to know. As for (UK) university open access repositories, any insights there also happily received.

foggyknitter.bsky.social•212 days ago

Just searching "university open access books" brings up a huge number of universities offering them

foggyknitter.bsky.social•212 days ago

Manchester: https://www.manchesterhive.com/

foggyknitter.bsky.social•212 days ago

I've found https://www.hathitrust.org/ brilliant. Obviously there's Internet Archive, but I'm not sure what will be available from there in future

foggyknitter.bsky.social•212 days ago

JSTOR seem to have a lot, seems to bring together a lot of different publishers in one place https://about.jstor.org/librarians/books/open-access-books-jstor/

foggyknitter.bsky.social•212 days ago

Oxford: https://academic.oup.com/books/search-results?allJournals=1&f_ContentType=Book&fl_SiteID=6283&access_openaccess=true&cqb=[]&page=1&tax=AcademicSubjects/AHU00010

teakayb.mathsy.space•212 days ago

I have a friend with a university login... One day she'll get fed up with me asking for pdfs, I'm sure!

lightlyusedpanties.bsky.social•212 days ago

We have an amazing state archive and state-run regional archives for primary source materials (which have LDS microfilmed birth, death, and marriage records), and I love a university library for access to journals.

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Which nation and which state if I may ask? Thanks.

lightlyusedpanties.bsky.social•212 days ago

I can DM you that if you'd like. Sorry to be so vague 😔

foggyknitter.bsky.social•208 days ago

I've just found this directory of open access books so thought I'd come back to this thread to share it in case it's of use to anyone https://www.doabooks.org/

femkenijsse.bsky.social•212 days ago

One option for those who have edited a bit on Wikipedia (6 months of editing / 500 edits) is The Wikipedia Library, which has access to a large number of collections, including many newspapers

earthonomics.bsky.social•212 days ago

Following

aylwin.bsky.social•212 days ago

I currently still have uni access but I know that Lib-Gen will be there waiting for me when I don't (Sci-hub is there for science as well).

adammbishop.bsky.social•212 days ago

You can get access to lots of OA content with a "Wikipedia Library Card", basically if you login to Wikipedia and make 10 edits a month. I use it for JSTOR and Muse but there are tons of other sites

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Another part of the puzzle I was not aware of. Thanks!

adammbishop.bsky.social•212 days ago

https://wikipedialibrary.wmflabs.org/

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks for the link. At this rate I shall know much, much more than I did by evening. Clearly the partial/fractured knowledge of resources is a big issue.

rhyskamjones.bsky.social•212 days ago

People with a Welsh address can get decent institutional access from home if they get a National Library of Wales reader's card. I try to advertise it as much as possible! https://www.library.wales/visit/before-your-visit/readers-ticket/what-can-i-access

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Ah, another piece of interesting/important information, about which I was wholly ignorant. Thanks!

eithin.bsky.social•212 days ago

The National Library of Scotland does the same!

kmcdono.bsky.social•212 days ago

At the Turing, it took years before they caved and purchased journal subscriptions for staff researchers. We were advised to go into the BL reading rooms to use the terminals there with access to articles or legal deposit books. So we were very dependent on OA copies to do work in reality.

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Really interesting (not to mention ironic). Did you use the 'Green' versions for citations, or instead only for scoping research?

kmcdono.bsky.social•212 days ago

At least, as historians, we had reader cards for the BL. But most Turing staff don't :(

kmcdono.bsky.social•212 days ago

We didn't use Green for citations, only reading/scoping.

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks--that's my general impression (but it would be handy to have not just evidence but data!).

naevanvm.bsky.social•212 days ago

If i have friends who have access, i will opt for the diplomatic option. Otherwise….

drchrisc.bsky.social•212 days ago

Society on Antiquaries library link is pretty good and I beg online for pdfs.

enricharch.bsky.social•212 days ago

Begging is good. We try contacting the author and plead our case.

realhistoryguy.bsky.social•212 days ago

I’m very ignorant of these in detail

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks--2nd post links you to one as an example.

takud.bsky.social•212 days ago

Sometimes I just ask the people who did the studies, if I could read them.

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Yes, that often does the trick, though time-consuming you you!

takud.bsky.social•212 days ago

To be honest I didn't know that there is also an open access portal.
Now that I study in the university again, I haven't had any problems with hobby related studies.

01factory.bsky.social•212 days ago

I've a free JSTOR account. I use my UK local library card for ODNB, OED, newspapers. I'm a wikipedia editor & use Wikipedia Library. I don't use uni OA repositories systematically (I don't know any one repos's scope), but sometimes get to individual items, esp dissertations, from Google search.

jonocarpenter.bsky.social•212 days ago

Partner has variously been a post-doc, uni staff, and now retraining so I just scab off her access. Could get the company for pay for an annual alumni subscription to E-library resources for $300 if necessary.

mikeytabak.bsky.social•212 days ago

It's really hard for me to get access to these papers since leaving a university. I struggle to even get copies of my own papers.

I mostly get paywalled papers by asking friends and colleagues who work at universities. Often there is a preprint of the paper available, which is close enough.

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks. Most of us are very keen to share PDFs of articles (and very chuffed to be asked). Do you know about the OA repositories and if so find them useful?

mikeytabak.bsky.social•212 days ago

I’ve used Research Gate, but that’s the only one I’m familiar with

michwatsonoz.bsky.social•212 days ago

I am currently writing up a quick guide for family historians about institutional repositories. Most in Oz don’t know about them and they are a gold mine for historical research. I don’t think there is currently a national index. Might do one up if not.

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Ah thanks, good to know. Hope you will post it on Bsky when it exists.

mycomagus.bsky.social•212 days ago

Scihub/libgen 🤷‍♂️

markcrail.bsky.social•212 days ago

Primarily jstor and the kindness of strangers (and friends). I am aware of uni OA repositories and use them, but unless the text comes up in google searches, I sometimes forget about them. There needs to be a central repository or at least a central search tool covering all unis.

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks. The discoverability issue is a big one and needs to be addressed properly.

niribaha.bsky.social•212 days ago

I discovered quite by accident that any state resident (MA, USA) can get a state university ID, which grants full access to the library and journals. I did not know about open access!

lesleyhoskins.bsky.social•212 days ago

No longer have university membership and am reliant on libraries eg London Library (expensive!) and BL (!!!). Thankfully I am based in London, wh makes things easier. Have done historical research for years, in and out of university, but didn’t know till now about uni. OA repositories.

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks--very interesting (and telling) that they are news to an experienced researcher.

brojaz.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks for this details

verbivorial.bsky.social•212 days ago

As a former academic, I knew about university depositories and my colleagues already knew about free j-stor. I haven’t used it yet, but there’s also Access to Research, though you have to go to a public library to use it.

lajoiemedia.bsky.social•212 days ago

I would certainly never use sci-hub! Banish the thought!

waymarks.bsky.social•212 days ago

I'm due soon to be losing my institutional access to JSTOR, ProQuest etc., which will no doubt feel like chopping my leg off! Dreading it. Will have to explore all OA options, and, no doubt, will be beseeching pals and colleagues on-line to send PDFs from time to time.

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

One of the previous respondents noted that a free 100-article JSTOR subscription is available. But I feel your pain!

waymarks.bsky.social•212 days ago

There do seem to be quite a lot of things on JSTOR which are marked as open access, but even with Uni' access there are lots of things out there which I've needed that I've not had access to. Sod's law - just as I'm finishing my PhD my college has subscribed to a journal that is key to my subject!

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

If you know about but don't use university open access repositories, why not?

As a reward for reading part 2 of this post, here's A Case for the Humanities in UCL's OA repository:
https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10195111/ 2/2

freereed59.net•212 days ago

📌

jacquicroftie.bsky.social•212 days ago

📌

teakayb.mathsy.space•212 days ago

I know that some sources are open access, but I haven't really discovered a reliable way of searching just for the open access stuff. Are these university OA repositories interlinked, or do I need to go through each one in turn?

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Unfortunately they're not linked: each UK university manages its own repository. Some publications will also be in reps. such as PubMed. But for most Humanities & SS research, if not published 'Gold' open access by the journal (for a hefty fee) the 'Green' university rep. version is the Plan B.

teakayb.mathsy.space•212 days ago

That's a shame, but not a surprise. Access to research materials is very much an "us and them" thing. Free to those who can afford it; very expensive to those who can't 😞 Glad some universities are doing small things to combat it, but it's a rubbish situation.

teakayb.mathsy.space•212 days ago

📌

rivermanrob.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks for posting this - I was unaware

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Thanks--that's interesting. If you explore them and have feedback about utility, ease of discoverability etc I'd be interested to know what you find. They are a core element of university research funding (and costly), but evidence of utility is rather thin on the ground!

rivermanrob.bsky.social•212 days ago

I think this could be really useful. I’m laid up with Covid atm but once I’m recovered I’ll have a proper look and let you know

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Much appreciated--no rush (it's a never-ending saga). And so sorry for the Covid. Rest up.

jennysanders.bsky.social•212 days ago

I didnt know about this! Thank you 🙏🏻

stoic-dem.bsky.social•212 days ago

American here. When I’m not in a degree program, and therefore without university sponsored access to databases, I usually use Google scholar (where many articles are paywalled) or research databases from my public library (which are ofc not as robust as the typical university).

eicathomefinn.bsky.social•212 days ago

Interesting. There were posts on Bsky perhaps last week about the growing degradation of Google Scholar as Google itself degrades.

stoic-dem.bsky.social•212 days ago

Well, that may be true, but when you aren’t aware of other options…

katieocean.bsky.social•212 days ago

Didn’t know about these! Is there a list of OA repositories somewhere?

colettet.bsky.social•204 days ago

https://doaj.org this is great. some public libraries also have federated search (eg some in the uk w sirsi software) for open access repositories too and hoping this will grow more widely

henrique-maia.bsky.social•212 days ago

I don’t know about OA repositories, but I heard authors often send you the articles for free (as they gain nothing from the paywall)
Piracy is also an option