Information literacy and open access in Croatian academic libraries

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Ivana Hebrang Grgić
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of information and Communication sciences)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Information and Communication Sciences

Abstract (english)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present results of a survey of Croatian academic libraries’ user education about open access (OA)-related issues. The concept of OA literacy will be explained, and the term will be put in the context of information literacy (IL) and scholarly communication. Design/methodology/approach An anonymous online questionnaire was sent to all the Croatian academic libraries with the aim to find out if libraries are involved in OA and to learn about plans for user education about the aspect of IL that is important for using OA information. Findings Almost all the libraries are involved in OA publishing, either through OA repositories or through OA journals. However, 22 per cent of the libraries do not educate their users about OA. Two most important IL skills in the context of OA are finding OA information and understanding OA citation advantage. Academic libraries in Croatia mostly recognize the questionable publishers as a threat for OA. However, 40 per cent of libraries do not plan any form of education about OA literacy. Practical implications The results of this research can be a basis for creating programmes of user education in academic libraries. Some problems are recognized, some skills are identified and further steps could be undertaken to improve academic library users’ OA literacy skills. Originality/value The research results contribute to understanding the importance of academic libraries in developing OA literacy of their users. The paper gives results of a survey of Croatian academic libraries and some new perspectives for authors, readers and libraries on how to evaluate OA sources using OA literacy skills.

• Keywords (english): Academic libraries; Croatia; Library users; Information literacy; Open access; Open access literacy
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Published version
• Journal title: Library Review
• Numbering: vol. 65, no. 4/5, pp. 255-266
• p-ISSN: 0024-2535
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/LR-01-2016-0009
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:405399
• Publication: 2016-07-04
• Document URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/LR-01-2016-0009/full/html
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2023-07-26 18:26:25