This study investigated scholarly communication guidance as a core service by the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, academic library to doctoral students, research and scholarly communication needs and skills of doctoral students and effective dissemination of research findings by doctoral students for national development. The study also explored the adoption of a research portal as part of the academic library website for scholarly communication guidance to doctoral students. A case study research design with KNUST as research site, with a mixed method approach was used. Semi-structured interviews, questionnaires, documentary analysis and a bibliometric survey of an institutional repository were employed as data gathering tools. A scholarly communication guidance model based on Costa’s proposed adaption of Garvey and Griffin’s models of scholarly communication, Wilson’s information behaviour model and Bjork’s scholarly communication lifecycle model was developed to frame the study.

Scholarly communication guidance as a core service of an academic library to doctoral students: A case study of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

The purpose of this literature review is to identify the challenges, opportunities, and gaps in knowledge with regard to the use of metadata in scholarly communications. This paper compiles and interprets literature in sections based on the professional groups, or stakeholders, within scholarly communications metadata: researchers, funders, publishers, librarians, service providers, and data curators. It then ends with a 'bird's eye view' of the metadata supply chain which presents the network of relationships and interdependencies between stakeholders. This paper seeks to lay the groundwork for new approaches to present problems in scholarly communications metadata.

A literature review of scholarly communications metadata

Open Access Metadata, Catalogers, and Vendors: The Future of Cataloging Records.

The intent of this investigation was to learn what factors may have contributed to low usage of a small set of reputable open access scholarly journals, as evidenced in graduate student reference lists. Inquiry into differences among open access sources referenced between 2005 and 2014 revealed that non-indexed journals were being used notably fewer times than their commercially indexed counterparts. A comparison of HTML source code between indexed and non-indexed journals illustrated that certain metadata and other coding features may have affected the visibility of non-indexed journal content. The study suggests to librarians the presence of less visible empirical literature on the web and to smaller, independent academic publishers, the need to apply better quality metadata and optimization strategies to their open access journal content.

An Exploration of Indexed and Non-Indexed Open Access Journals: Identifying Metadata Coding Variations

The serials literature for 2010–11 reflects the need for all members of the serials information chain to demonstrate flexibility in the face of constant change. Both the current economic context and the rapid development of technology are providing users with more options than ever before for fulfilling their information needs. The literature reflects this and the actions that members of the serials information chain are taking to evaluate, measure, and deliver serials content in new and creative ways. The major themes in the serials literature—workflows and processes, access to serials, metrics, and changing user behavior—are described and illustrated using examples from a selection of materials published during 2010–11.

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Flexibility in the Face of Change

In this session, Holly Mercer presented a case for finding global solutions to improve the metadata that are available for journals, particularly small, independent, open-access journals. She discussed the scholarly communication lifecycle and described how in her view the metadata value chain underpins the scholarly communication system. Examples of the importance of metadata to discovery, access, and use of publications were provided. Suggestions of how librarians can help editors and publishers enhance discoverability and usability for patrons were also provided.

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Holly Mercer

Papers

Metadata Value Chain for Open-Access E-journals