Modes of access: the influence of dissemination channels on open access monographs use

摘要

This paper is the first to study the effects of several dissemination channels in an open access environment by analysing the download data of the OAPEN Library. The OAPEN Library contains freely accessible monographs. The goal of open access publishing is maximum dissemination, and this implies finding the largest possible number of readers within and outside academia. This may be supported by understanding the effects of dissemination channels. The download data stems from three channels: Website only, Website and direct access and direct access only. From the logs of the OAPEN Library, download data were obtained containing the number of downloads and the name of the Internet provider. Based on public information, each Internet provider was categorised. The subject and language of each book were determined using metadata from the OAPEN Library. The download data of 979 books in the OAPEN Library were analysed. The monographs were downloaded 152,662 times in the first six months of 2012. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were carried out on the data. The quantitative analysis was done using the spread sheet software Excel. The qualitative analysis was carried out using the statistical package SPSS. Quantitative analysis shows that use is dominated by direct access. Almost three quarters of all downloads come from users who do not use the Website www.oapen.org, but find the books by other means. The qualitative analysis could not find evidence that channel use was influenced by user groups nor the state of users' Internet infrastructure. The same holds true for the characteristics of the books themselves: no effect on channel use was found for both the language and subjects of the monographs. The goal of multichannel analysis is to determine the optimal use of resources: what configuration leads to the best results? The definition of best results in an open access environment is different from a commercial environment. the objective not financial gain, but maximum dissemination. results show that most readers are using direct download channel. direct downloads occur if use other systems than oapen library website, spite of fact it offers functions available through channels. this implies making metadata user's infrastructure used on daily basis ensures results.