Embrace the Hive Mind: Engaging ILL and Research Services in Unsubscribed and OA Content Discovery

Deciding whether to support discovery of unsubscribed and Open Access (OA) content raises questions for technical and public services librarians, from the philosophical to the pragmatic. Doing so requires careful curation and monitoring of metadata sources, and benefits from library-wide input. During this session, presenters describe their process for vetting unsubscribed and OA metadata sources with ILL and liaison librarians for inclusion in the discovery layer and on the A-Z database list. For the discovery layer, this involves a three-step evaluation of collections for overall metadata quality, likelihood of ILL fulfillment, and value to the library collection. For the database list, this involves an evaluation of how liaison librarians integrate these sources into reference and instruction. In each case, technical services, ILL, and liaison librarians have an opportunity to weigh in on whether unsubscribed and OA content merit inclusion in the library collection. Subsequently, ILL and liaison librarians play a critical role monitoring these resources for continued inclusion or removal from the collection.

This session should be of interest to any library that experiences challenges with metadata curation via the discovery layer or the A-Z database list, or is contemplating increasing or decreasing representation of unsubscribed and OA content in the library collection.