The ADS in the Information Age - Impact on Discovery

TL;DR

The paper discusses the significant impact of the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) on astronomical research, education, and access to scholarly publications in the context of the Information Age.

Contribution

It highlights how ADS has evolved to meet user needs, becoming essential for astronomers and a public educational resource, demonstrating its influence on research and information access.

Findings

ADS is used daily by all professional astronomers.

ADS has expanded into public education.

ADS has significantly improved access to scholarly publications.

Abstract

The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) grew up with and has been riding the waves of the Information Age, closely monitoring and anticipating the needs of its end-users. By now, all professional astronomers are using the ADS on a daily basis, and a substantial fraction have been using it for their entire professional career. In addition to being an indispensable tool for professional scientists, the ADS also moved into the public domain, as a tool for science education. In this paper we will highlight and discuss some aspects indicative of the impact the ADS has had on research and the access to scholarly publications. The ADS is funded by NASA Grant NNX09AB39G