SciLib - Weblog

« SciFinder Scholar for OS X ... but only for 10.2, 10.3, and 10.4 | Main | Biosis within Web of Science »

December 21, 2005

Electronic Journal Migration

Science Libraries Journal Analysis and Action Plan

Dear research community,

The library has two time-dependent concerns that require your input. The first is the issue of maintaining only essential paper journals when there are adequate and reliable electronic equivalents. The second concern is creating space for future growth through the transfer of selected low use materials to the off-site Library Shelving Facility (LSF).

Reducing paper journals when adequate online equivalents exist

Most researchers now rely on electronic journals for delivery of traditional published information. The use of paper journals in the Science Libraries is almost zero for titles with equivalent online access. We have greatly expanded our electronic journal collections in recent years. In addition, many publishers are digitizing previous years of their journals; often back to the first issues. We have purchased the rights to these back files for all available titles, thereby greatly expanding the depth of online collections available to the Yale community.

The complete list of electronic journals can be found at
http://www.library.yale.edu/journals/

It is now time to reduce costs and staff workload by switching to electronic-only access for a large portion of our electronic journal subscriptions.

Our intention is to move to electronic-only for almost all journals.

Personal preference for paper will not be an adequate reason to retain paper in most cases.

The Yale Science libraries will be joining all other major science libraries around the world in migrating to online-only journals when possible. We will be spending the next year identifying those titles that must remain in paper for two reasons:

1. Equivalent content is not available online

2. Use is adversely affected (e.g., image quality, browsing of charts)

Please contact us if you have a need for any specific paper journal. The comment form is located at
http://www.library.yale.edu/science/services/paperjournals.html

To address common concerns:

· Researchers can print from the online journals
· The online images are of equal quality to print
· Online journals are released with less lag time
· Titles are indexed in abstracting services -- and table-of-contents or keyword search results can be delivered via email
· We can obtain PDF copies from other delivery companies in emergency situations

We take archiving seriously, and we are confident that there are multiple repositories in the event of catastrophic failures.

The review and decision process

Starting in January, paper copies of many titles will be removed from the public area and stored in staff areas without being completely processed. In the event of problems with equivalent content or adverse use situations we will be able to document problem titles and supply the paper copies on demand.

At the end of the 2006 we will review those titles requiring paper copies and reduce our paper subscriptions to the minimal number necessary to provide adequate coverage. Reducing paper will allow us to save a small amount of money, better monitor our actual use, and reallocate staff to new online support tasks thereby reducing long-standing backlogs.

In order to notify users of this new procedure we will place the following note in Orbis records:
"Current issues are held in staff areas for special circumstances. Please see staff for access."

The following note will be placed on display shelves: "This journal is available online. See the online journal list for current materials. For this test period, current issues are held in staff areas for special circumstances. Please see staff for access."

Posted by dstern at December 21, 2005 04:29 PM

Comments

Post a comment