Researchers\u27 Use of Academic Social Networking Sites and Institutional Repositories

Academic social networking sites are gaining popularity among scholars and researchers around the world. They allow researchers to communicate and collaborate with other professionals in their field, upload files making them accessible to millions of users, and measure the impact of scholarship. Presenters will focus on two of the most popular academic social networking sites, Academia.edu and ResearchGate, to understand faculty use of academic social networking sites in a mid-sized state university. Key features of these academic social networking sites will be discussed. After analyzing the communication and usage patterns of ResearchGate and Academia.edu among Cal State LA researchers in different disciplines, presenters will then see how this compares with faculty use of the Cal State LA institutional repository. Presenters have analyzed usage patterns within four different subject areas to understand the disciplinary differences of usage within these two academic social networking sites. Presenters will describe their personal experiences providing access to faculty publications through the Cal State LA institutional repository. Participants will be invited to discuss adding interactive features and other ways to expand the functionality and use of institutional repositories