Where Do Mongolian Scholars Go?

Abstract

In developing countries, one of the many challenges faced by researchers is increased pressure to conduct research, but inadequate resources provided to do their work. Perhaps nowhere is the inadequacy of research resources more apparent than in the area of access to scholarly research. In this chapter, using survey data, usage statistics, and interviews of researchers, librarians, and research administrators, we describe the information seeking behavior of scholars in Mongolia and how this behavior intersects with the resources made available by research administrators and librarians. Much of the existing research on scholarly communication in developing countries has focused on whether access to scholars should be donated or provided free of charge without restriction. In Mongolia, the issue isn't so much whether access to scholarly communication should be donated or not, but rather whether the scholarly communication system meets researcher needs, is adapted to constraints within the country, and reduces communication dependency. What we find is that the scholarly communication system in Mongolia fails to completely meet researcher needs and makes the country dependent on the scholarly communication products provided by outsiders.