If you’re a librarian, you may think this • Google Scholar • Library catalog • Actually going to the library • TOC email alerts • RSS feeds J Med Libr Assoc. 2010 January; 98(1): 73–81. http://dx.doi.org/10.3163/1536-5050.98.1.019
If you’re a scientist, you ask your colleagues and they tell you this • Google Scholar • Via email from PI/colleague • Library catalog • from web forum • #icanhazpdf
There’s a lot of pent up demand • Pubmed Central downloads are about 50% from non-institutional domains. • Searches landing on Arxiv are often from non-institutional domains • Nurses • Small business • Interested public / lay scientists
The difference in the two types of discovery is that one is social Not Social ∙ Search ∙ Email alerts ∙ RSS feeds ∙ Browsing journal websites ∙ Visiting the library Social ∙ Emails from colleagues ∙ links shared on social networks ∙ web forums ∙ shared servers