The Open Access Advantage for American Law Reviews

About This Session

Open access within legal academia provides a case study for the effective use of digital formats to promote scholarship. The presenters review the background historical developments in this field, and consider the benefits and rationales for providing open access to legal scholarship, including the special faculty concerns arising from SSRN and its relationship to the institutional repository. Results from the presenters’ recent empirical study of the citation advantage for open access scholarship in American law reviews will be discussed and placed in broader context of the benefits of open access scholarship.

Presenters

James Donovan

James Donovan

  • University of Kentucky Law Library Director

James M. Donovan joined the University of Kentucky College of Law as Director of the Law Library in December 2010. Dr. Donovan received his law degree from Loyola New Orleans School of Law. Additionally, he holds a Ph.D.

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Carol Watson

Carol Watson

  • UGA Law Library Director

Carol A. Watson is no stranger to the University of Georgia. She earned three of her four tertiary degrees at the university, including a J.D. from the School of Law. In 1987, Watson began her professional career at the university's law library. Twenty-three years later, she was named its director.

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Caroline Osborne

Caroline Osborne

  • Assistant Dean of Legal Information Services and Professor of Legal Research at Washington and Lee University

Caroline L. Osborne is the Assistant Dean of Legal Information Services and Professor of Legal Research at Washington and Lee University.  She teaches Advanced Legal Research and is the director for the Burks Scholar Program for legal research and writing.

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