SHAREOK is a joint institutional repository for the Oklahoma
State University Libraries, the University of Oklahoma Libraries and the
University of Central Oklahoma Max Chambers Library.
Essentially, it is a place for students and faculty to
deposit digital versions of their work. SHAREOK houses theses, dissertations,
research reports and more from some incredibly talented and brilliant people
across the state. Why is this so important? Well, the documents are all
open access, meaning they can be read by anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Because the documents on SHAREOK are all open access, this
provides students with a way to find scholarly work after they graduate. For a
student like myself who will graduate in May, this is exciting news. I
currently have access to a plethora of databases provided by the library, yet
once May rolls around, that access will no longer be available. SHAREOK allows
students like myself to transition into their postgraduate lives while
preserving one of the educational assets they had at OSU.
Juliana Nykolaiszyn, a professor in the Digital Resources
and Discovery Services department at the OSU library, is responsible for maintaining
SHAREOK at OSU.
“The whole goal is to make everything open, accessible and
free,” Juliana said. “Not only for students here at OSU, but throughout the
state of Oklahoma and worldwide.”
Students are not the only ones who benefit from this
platform. When faculty submit their work to SHAREOK, they gain another layer of
visibility in the scholarly world. Rather than just allowing it to sit on their
computers, unseen and unused, professors can submit their articles,
presentations, posters or other work to SHAREOK where anyone in the world may
now find it.
Clarke Iakovakis, an assistant professor in Research and Learning Services, works to increase the visibility of SHAREOK at OSU. He
explained some of the benefits faculty gain by submitting their work to the
repository.
“It’s this movement toward making what has been invisible more visible,” Clarke said. “There are people who are interested in really building their online scholarly profiles and sharing the work that they do. Downstream, other researchers can benefit from it, but it also can help build their profiles as researchers.”
“It’s this movement toward making what has been invisible more visible,” Clarke said. “There are people who are interested in really building their online scholarly profiles and sharing the work that they do. Downstream, other researchers can benefit from it, but it also can help build their profiles as researchers.”
While the benefits to students and faculty may be evident, the benefits of SHAREOK extend beyond what we see at OSU. Professionals in every industry have access to the material. The research conducted at OSU is often publically funded, so why shouldn’t the public be able to learn from the research, too? Furthermore, peer-reviewed research has traditionally been limited by subscription-only paywalls, the costs of which have risen dramatically in the last two decades. SHAREOK provides everyone with a way to continue learning and using the information on the platform without the financial burden of paying for a subscription service.
People around the globe can explore the information available on the platform.
They may discover something that, had they been required to purchase access,
they may never have learned. After all, knowledge is one of the greatest
treasures. Why shouldn’t we share ours with the world?
Posted by Jenny Berry, electronic communications intern
