Post on 27-Mar-2015
transcript
Google and libraries:an uneasy relationship
Stephen Abram
SirsiDynix
Closing Plenary Session
Puppy love versus reality: The illiteracy, innumeracy, phantom hit counts and citation
counts of Google Scholar Peter Jacso
University of Hawaii, Dept. of Information & Computer Sciences
Opening Plenary Session
Connecting collections with workflowsCarol Goble
University of Manchester, School of Computer Science
Quotes from Carol Goble UKSG 2006Nice project but not so nice attitude
• I don't read journal articles• I don't do libraries • I send Ph D students to pick up materials
from the library• That's what Ph D students are for • Google is the Gift of the Lord• I don't use anything but Google • I am proud of it & I rub it in at UKSG 2006• I am a heretic
Jacso
Not so hidden messages and metalanguage
• We don't need no education
• We don't need no £$%& journals
• We don't need no £$%& libraries
• We don't need no £$%& librarians
• We don't need no nothing but Google
Jacso
Google Scholar (GS)The Myth
• GS is the alpha and the omega of scholarly
literature search
• GS personality cultGS is the smartest
GS is my best friend
GS for president
GS for Page Six
GS for TIME Magazine Person of the Year
• GS for citedness and impact factor
Jacso
Good for
• the have-nots
• casual search
• undergrad students
• ego boosting (inflated counts +
questionable sources)
• but not for real research
Jacso
The Reality
• Secrecy about sources
• Secrecy about journals
• Secrecy about time span
• Secrecy about size
• Huge gaps in collections crawled from publishers’
archives
• Skeletal [citation] records
• Mixing fine champagne with cheap wine
• Inflated hit counts & citation counts
• Phantom citing itemsJacso
Reality Check• Check it for yourself
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~jacso/scholarly/side-by-side2.htm
Jacso
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I
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Jacso
InnumeracyBasic Boolean Blunder
Illiteracy and/or innumeracy?
Jacso
Illiteracy and or innumeracy
Jacso
Who is cited & what is cited?
Who isR. Card?
Cited only 4 times in 6 years?
STD article in Circulation
Jacso
Oh, this is advertising
circulation data
And this is the journal name
Jacso
Oh, this is advertising
circulation data
Jacso
Too good to be true?
215 items per year?
Jacso
Skimpy records …
Why skimpy [citation] records instead of Serials’ archive records?
Jacso
… direct you to BL Direct to pay for what is free
Jacso
Much open access in Serials archive
Jacso
inPDF and HTML formats
Jacso
Check out my short picture-book for GS Innumeracy & GS Illiteracy
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Two scientists and GS
Pauly, D and Stergiou, K.I. (2005)
“Equivalence of results from two citation analyses: Thomson ISI’s Citation Index and
Google’s Scholar service”
Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics, 2005 p. 33 available at
http://www.int-res.com/articles/esep/2005/E65.pdf
Jacso
Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics, 2005 p. 33 available at
http://www.int-res.com/articles/esep/2005/E65.pdf
Jacso
Unscholarly citation illiteracy and innumeracy
• Dabbling in citation searching
• Running with citation counts reported by GS without checking & corroboration
• Grossly misunderstanding and underreporting WoS citation counts
• Blissful ignorance, dangerously dilettante conclusion
Jacso
These citation counts in the authors’ spreadsheet are as equivalent as the Elvis
imitators and the real Elvis
Jacso
Bradford’s article was cited nearly 200,000 times. The one of Lowry’s about 300,000 times. The authors use a citation
count for 1961-1982. They just don’t get it..
Jacso
Fools’ gold and foolish ideas
Jacso
Declan Butler, Nature’s senior reporter gets his cites…
Jacso
… in more ways than one by Stevan Harnad, Canada Research Chair of Cognitive Science
Jacso
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An ignorant reporter reports the “findings” as gospel,
and your library budget will likely to be cut to substitute WoS by GS.
Jacso
Not so fast with that ax, interpreting citation data is a subtle stuff, indeed