“Why Does Google Scholar Sometimes Ask for Money?” Engaging Science Students in Scholarly Communication and the Economics of Information

Abstract

This article outlines instructional strategies for teaching students about scholarly communication and the economic realities that surround scientific information. Exposing students to the business side of academic communication provides a foundation for understanding how Google relates to library-subscription resources, how research is both shared and discovered, what the role of libraries is in providing access to costly information, and how disparities arise in information access. Such instruction contextualizes search tools such as article databases as well as Google Scholar, and thereby serves as an appropriate starting point for teaching students to use such tools.