The appearance of electronic journals as a new media has transformed academic publishing and the services offered by university libraries. The big publishing houses have tackled the change from paper-based scientific journal publishing to electronic formats by introducing a new marketing model: substituting traditional title-by-title subscriptions to a system of subscribing to licence packages, known as the "Big Deal". In answer to this, the libraries have joined forces to negotiate better terms for the joint acquisition of electronic content.
In the case of the University Library Consortium of Catalonia (CBUC), analysis has been carried out of the use of electronic journals to which libraries have subscribed.
Based on the usage statistics supplied by the publishers, analysis was conducted on the use of subscription to seven electronic journals packages (American Chemical Society (ACS), American Institute of Physics (AIP), Blackwell, Elsevier, Emerald, Springer and Wiley) amongst the seven universities that made up the CBUC –Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Universidad de Girona (UDG), Universitat de Lleida (UDL) and Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV)– in 2005.
The results showed that the universities, regardless of their size, had different levels of use of the journals. The results also showed differences between different scientific fields. These differences in use were referenced against each university's collection of back issues and with the institution's research activity. It was also seen that journals that were not previously subscribed to showed very low levels of use.
Finally, the analysis showed that the level of use of a scientific journals can serve as an indicator of the research a university carries out and for its own evaluation purposes. Use can be taken into account when distributing the cost of subscribing to electronic journals.

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Cooperació bibliotecària en l'era digital. Consorcis i adquisicions de revistes a les biblioteques universitàries catalanes, La

The proliferation of multiple versions for bibliographic works presents numerous challenges to the cataloger and, by extension, to the catalog user. Fifteen years after the Multiple Versions Forum held in Airlie, Virginia, online public access catalog (OPAC) users continue to grapple with confusing displays representing numerous serial manifestations (i.e., versions) resulting from the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules’ (AACR2) cardinal principle (Rule 0.24). Two initiatives offer hope for more coherent OPAC displays in light of a renewed focus upon user needs: the ongoing revision of AACR2, and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions’ Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) model. A third potential tool for improving OPAC displays exists within a series of standards that have developed to parallel library needs, and today offer a robust communications medium: the MARC 21 authority, bibliographic, and holdings formats. This paper summarizes the challenges posed by multiple versions and presents an analysis of current and emerging solutions.

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Serials and Multiple Versions, or the Inexorable Trend toward Work-Level Displays

Knowledge organization standards are important community artifacts that set forth agreed upon specifications and protocols, and though they may appear neutral they have been shown to harbor specific perspectives. These perspectives are often covert but hold implications for the ways in which knowledge is conceptualized, organized, and represented. Values are deeply held preferences for ways of acting and ways of being, and represent an effective lens for examining the perspectives embedded in societal practices and artifacts. To date, however, knowledge organization standards have not been approached through formal value analysis. This study addresses this gap through an examination of the influential library standard Resource Description and Access (RDA), specifically focusing on what values are present within this standard, how these values are communicated, and how they are recognized and responded to by practitioners. To address these questions, a qualitative, exploratory, multiphase study was conducted, utilizing value and rhetorical analyses of the text of RDA as well as open-ended interviews with RDA practitioners focused on their interpretations of the document. Findings show that RDA upholds its design principles through the expression of principles-based values and values associated with user needs, communicated through a set of routine structures such as directives and conditionals. In their usage of RDA, catalogers place greater emphasis on values associated with users and their perspectives, and see access as the most important value within this standard. At the same time, the relative absence of asserted community values such as privacy and autonomy illustrates the challenged nature of human values in knowledge organization standards. Findings from this study demonstrate the integral nature of values in standards, and position value analysis as a useful methodology in the critical study of standards in all domains. For the knowledge organization and cultural heritage communities, this work reveals the ways in which standards and their enactments serve to mediate key community values. In raising questions about the role of human values in knowledge organization standards, this study also contributes to ongoing discussions of information ethics and professional values. Values in Knowledge Organization Standards: A Value Analysis of Resource Description and Access (RDA)

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Values in Knowledge Organization Standards: A Value Analysis of Resource Description and Access (RDA)

The Importance of Gathering Print and Electronic Journal Use Data: Getting a Clear Picture

Digital materials are reshaping library collections and, by extension, traditional library practice for collecting, organizing, and preserving information This paper uses OCLC’s WorldCat bibliographic database as a data source for examining questions relating to digital materials in library collections, including criteria for identifying digital materials algorithmically in MARC21 records; the quantity, types, characteristics, and holdings patterns of digital materials cataloged in WorldCat; and trends in WorldCat cataloging activity for digital materials over time Issues pertaining to cataloging practice for digital materials and perspectives on digital holdings at the work level also are discussed Analysis of the aggregate collection represented by the combined digital holdings in WorldCat affords a high-level perspective on historical patterns, suggests future trends, and supplies useful intelligence with which to inform decision making in a variety of areas

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Mapping WorldCat's Digital Landscape

Cataloging rules for computer-based materials were first introduced in the 1970s, and since then have undergone almost continuous modification and revision This article focuses on analysis and comparison of the various codes and guidelines for practice issued for what are now called electronic resources Creation of new cataloging rules has been spurred by introduction of new physical carriers, the preeminence of materials accessed remotely versus those with physical carriers, the need for guidance in cataloging specific instances of computer-based materials, and the evolution of the theoretical concerns underlying the cataloging codes Based on this history of constant change, it is easy to predict many more changes in the cataloging standards' for computer-based materials in the future However, continuous changes in the cataloging rules may have produced as much confusion as clarity for working catalogers Caution should be exercised in the creation of new rules and standards for cataloging electronic resources, as it is possible that older rules and standards may, in fact, be readily adapted to new types of electronic resources ********** Libraries have collected computer-based materials since the late 1960s Since then the types and capabilities of computer hardware computer media publication standards (or lack thereof), and the types of materials and information available in machine-readable format have continuously changed Computer-based materials have come to libraries in a variety of physical carriers, or have become available remotely with no physical carrier at all Since electronic data can be republished at almost no cost, multiple versions, many with only minor changes from the previous version, are the rule rather than the exception Computer-based materials usually have short useful lives, and it may not be possible to tell if some new carrier type, content, or mode of access will be a substantial development, a transit point to some other form, or an evolutionary dead end Because of the short history of electronic resources and their continuously morphing forms, there has not been a reliable body of cultural knowledge to draw on to create a definitive set of cataloging rules for these materials This article focuses not on the process of the creation of new rules but on analysis and comparison of the various codes Creation of new cataloging rules has been spurred by introduction of new carrier units, the predominance of items with physical carriers versus items accessed remotely, the need for rules of application for specific instances, and evolution of the theoretical concerns underlying the cataloging codes Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2d Edition (1978) Work on the development of cataloging rules for computer-based materials began in 1970 At that time, the American Library Association Resources and Technical Services Division Cataloging and Classification Section Descriptive Cataloging Committee formed a subcommittee to study computer materials and to attempt to formulate cataloging rules for them Within a few years, a number of interested groups were collaborating on attempts to codify bibliographic access for these materials (Dodd 1977, 49-50) In 1978, the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2d ed (AACR2 1978) was published It was the first international cataloging code to introduce rules for the cataloging of computer media (Dodd and Sandberg-Fox 1985, 1) (Examples are presented in the appendixes to this article See appendix A) The general material designation for these materials was machine-readable data files (MRDF), and they were defined as follows: A body of information coded by methods that require the use of a machine (typically a computer) for processing Examples are files stored on magnetic tape, punched cards (with or without a magnetic tape strip), aperture cards, punched paper tapes, disk packs, mark sensed cards, and optical character recognition font documents …

Proliferating guidelines: A history and analysis of the cataloging of electronic resources

The challenge of cataloging Web sites and electronic resources was the most important issue facing the cataloging world in the last year. This article reviews attempts to analyze and revise the cataloging code in view of the new electronic environment. The difficulties of applying traditional library cataloging standards to Web resources has led some to favor metadata as the best means of providing access to these materials. The appropriate education and training for library cataloging personnel remains crucial during this transitional period. Articles on user understanding of Library of Congress subject headings and on cataloging practice are also reviewed.

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The Year’s Work in Cataloging, 1999

With paper journals seemingly decreasing in importance, libraries need to consider issues of space allocation and storage of journal volumes. Space solutions may include shelving in open, closed, and/or compact shelving, mass storage in off-site, or onsite, facilities, or even discarding the paper and relying on electronic access. Any solution involving the current paper collections will have a serious impact on technical services. This workshop explores these issues in light of the experiences of Appalachian State University, which is in the planning stages of a new library.

Print Journals: Off Site? Out of Site? Out of Mind?

The eleven state universities of Florida have long shared an integrated library system architecture, but maintained separate databases. In 2009 the deans and directors of the eleven state university libraries tasked the three largest libraries to investigate the feasibility of combining all catalogs into a single bibliographic entity. With the help of a central automation group, the three successfully negotiated the fine line between sharing data and retaining the unique work created by each of the three libraries. The groundwork laid in this initiative should prove valuable to other libraries seeking to centralize functions and pool resources.

Amy K. Weiss

Papers

Proliferating guidelines: A history and analysis of the cataloging of electronic resources

The Year’s Work in Cataloging, 1999

Print Journals: Off Site? Out of Site? Out of Mind?

Merging Catalogs: Creating a Shared Bibliographic Environment for the State University Libraries of Florida