Networks Open Access And Virtual Libraries

"This book is crucial to understanding changes and the new expectations that library users have in the 21st century, including identifying, implementing and updating new technologies, understanding copyright and fair use laws, creating metadata for access to digital collections, and meeting user needs"--Provided by publisher.

The social sciences have made fundamental contributions to the understanding of the economic, political and social life of nations in the past century. Social science libraries now have an important role to play in the context of the information society as significant sources of academic and social knowledge. This work provides information on the development and use of digital resources in the social sciences emphasizing best practices; an articulation of some of the problems presented to providing these resources; and a view to the use of these resources to support sustainable development.

This book contains a plethora of different viewpoints and research results from all over the world, bringing them together to provide a global perspectiveon the various issues that comprise "open access". Topics include copyright, best practices and management, open access and society, repositories, journals, publications and publishing, services and technology, quality andevaluation. The book offers a holistic focus on open access and can serve as a useful learning tool for students and professionals.

Over the past decades, traditional academic library environments have transformed into digital libraries. This has resulted in many challenges for libraries in terms of the reinvention of libraries’ roles and organizations, the skill sets of librarians, and library infrastructure. At the same time, this profound transformation has opened the door to many new avenues, such as the support and advancement of Open Science. This book offers insights into the transformation of traditional library environments to digital libraries and details how digital libraries can contribute to Open Science, in particular to Open Access, FAIR and Open Data, and Open Education, by describing methods, criteria, strengths, and weaknesses as well as applications.