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

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I

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M

E

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A

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Y

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