Peer Review

Open Research Library: Open Access Books

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Oct 24, 2021 by Teacher Education

Bookmark

Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: The Open Research Library (ORL) will eventually contain a scholarly collection of 20,000+ Open Access books available to read online in either PDF format or ePub format for mobile smart devices. It is planned to include all Open Access books worldwide on one platform for a user-friendly discovery, offering a seamless experience navigating more than 20,000 Open Access books. This vital infrastructure is slated to comprise the most comprehesive collection of peer-reviewed Open Access books accessible to everyone. Libraries investing in the Open Research Library contribute to the development of a dedicated infrastructure for the global research community, while participating libraries have the opportunity to benefit from a set of exclusive services.
Type of Material:: Collection
Recommended Uses:: The Open Research Library would be an excellent place to start any type of research, at any level, from high school to grad school. Teachers may also find a book useful for teaching a topic or concept and each student could download a copy to read on their own. The site does provide a category for Young Adult fiction, however, it was empty as of this review.
Technical Requirements:: ePub format. Materials can be downloaded in PDF format, read online or opened with Kami.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Basically the Open Research Library provides free access to a wide variety of books of all kinds. At the macro level, "The Open Research Library (ORL) is planned to include all Open Access book content worldwide on one platform for user-friendly discovery, offering a seamless experience navigating more than 14,000 Open Access books. This vital infrastructure is slated to comprise the most comprehensive collection of peer-reviewed Open Access books accessible for everyone. Libraries investing in the Open Research Library contribute to the development of a dedicated infrastructure for the global research community, while participating libraries have the opportunity to benefit from a set of exclusive services."
Target Student Population:: High School, College General Ed, College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School, Professional
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Basic computing skills are needed to navigate the site and download books.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The books are free but they are of high quality, are provided under Creative Commons and are easy to search. Searches can be done in various ways, general searching of topics or browsing, and results can be refined by CATEGORY, CONTENT TYPE, CONTRIBUTOR, PUBLICATION YEAR, LANGUAGE, PUBLISHER, PLACE OF PUBLICATION, MODULE LICENSE TYPE

Each book lists a description, citations, notes and comments making it easier to determine the usefulness for a project.

Materials cover all subject areas.

Concerns:

The Online Research Library is international, which means not all publications are provided in English. Luckily, refining by Language allows the user to eliminate books in other languages.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

Although the ORL can be searched by 'guests', users who create a profile (this just means and email and password for log in) have access to many tools that will help them to personalize a BiblioBoard library of their own. The menu for MY BOARD includes the ability to save Favorites, Bookmarks & Recents. The menu for EXPLORE provides the user with the ability to explore. Curations, Categories and Modules.

The site also offers social media interactions and a Blog where the user can join a community in order to carry the conversation forward.

Content-specific goals are based on the individual material selected.

Concerns:

This ORL is a work in progress, therefore the user may find limited curations. Also the Categories may be a little 'loose'. For example, under Antiques & Collectables, the user will find books on finance and economics.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The Open Research Library site and the BiblioBoard are very easy to navigate. The Getting Started video is concise and an easy to follow introduction to the BilioBoard Library.

The site is laid out well with working links and buttons, icons for quick identification, a breadcrumb trail for quick navigation, and a Home link in case the user wants to start over.

Users can browse the collection by either a keyword search or using the curated collections that are organized into at least 46 topical categories. Website has accessibility statement link. There is a link to a video on how-to navigate the collection.

Concerns:

Clicking on the Support link at the bottom of the page opened an email message.

Other Issues and Comments:

According to the website users are able to access using mobile devices such as Apple, Android and Kindle Fire.

The Privacy Policy, Cookie Settings and Accessibility policy are provided at the bottom of the homepage.

Creative Commons: