This bibliography presents selected articles, books, electronic documents, and other sources that are useful in understanding scholarly electronic publishing efforts on the Internet and other networks.

Scholarly electronic publishing bibliography

Scholarly Electronic Publishing Weblog

This bibliographic essay examines the difficulties associated with the selection, licensing, acquisition, and management of e-books in academic libraries. The potential advantages of e-book technology are likely to be realized only to the extent that they advance the economic goals of e-book suppliers and are consistent with the legal framework that has been negotiated by publishers, vendors, libraries, and readers. Many difficulties can be traced to a lack of uniformity in license terms, access restrictions, and librarians' expectations. Likewise, sustainable access to e-books is hindered by impermanent physical media, proprietary file formats and software, and restrictive license provisions. Although the goals of e-book providers are sometimes inconsistent with those of universities, librarians are well-positioned to guide vendors in the development of e-book licenses and platforms.

E-books in Academic Libraries: Challenges for Acquisition and Collection Management

While there is a considerable body of literature that presents the results of citation analysis studies, most researchers do not provide enough detail in their methodology to reproduce the study, nor do they provide rationale for methodological decisions. In this paper, we review the methodologies used in 34 recent articles that present a “user study” citation analysis with a goal of informing collection management. We describe major themes and outliers in the methodologies and discuss factors that require careful thought and analysis. We also provide a guide to considerations for citation analysis studies, so that researchers can make informed decisions.

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A Review of Citation Analysis Methodologies for Collection Management

Annual electronic journal usage data for the NorthEast Research Library (NERL) consortium was analyzed for 2000 and 2001 for the Academic Press IDEAL aggregate package. Patterns indicated a high degree of skew in use of the journal collection: a small number of journals formed the majority of total use. Each institution illustrated a unique usage pattern, with some institutions using (proportionally) more or less of the collection. No institution used every title, and some titles were used very infrequently by the consortium as a whole. Title ranking showed high congruence between 2000 and 2001. Titles not subscribed in print received about ten times less use than locally subscribed titles. Cluster analysis revealed three distinct groups of institutions based on use of the journal package: large research institutions, medical institutions, and smaller liberal arts colleges and polytechnic institutes. Student enrollment is a good predictor of total usage, with medical institutions being an exception. It is recommended that institutions consider their consortial membership and organize themselves into groups of homogenous institutions with similar missions.

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Patterns in Electronic Journal Usage: Challenging the Composition of Geographic Consortia

Many libraries are facing difficult fiscal climates with serials inflation, budget cutbacks, and reductions in allocations requiring difficult collection management decisions. Libraries may find their flexibility to plan and react unduly restricted due to being contracted to one or more “Big Deals,” in which they are obligated to buy large, inflexible title lists from big publishers for a set price. This presentation discusses the experience of Southern Illinois University–Carbondale and the University of Oregon in leaving “Big Deals,” provides data on impacts on interlibrary loans, community response, and collection budgets, details the steps required before and after the decision, and describes the benefits that other libraries could achieve by following the example of these two members of the Association of Research Libraries.

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Leaving the “Big Deal”: Consequences and Next Steps

We report on a citation analysis of PhD dissertations in Plant Biology and Zoology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, undertaken to test the common assumption that scientists favor current research to such an extent that journal backfiles can be de-emphasized in academic library collections. Results demonstrate otherwise. The study is reproducible for any institution, and can help to evaluate 1) the value of electronic journal backfiles and 2) the need to maintain print backfiles.

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Dissertation Citations in Organismal Biology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale: Implications for Collection Development

E-Journal Bundling and Its Impact on Academic Libraries: Some Early Results.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) and the University of Oregon each withdrew from several Big Deals with major commercial journal publishers from 2008 to 2010. Analysis of the impact of these decisions was originally conducted and reported in 2011 and 2012. This article provides updated analysis based on interlibrary loan statistics, financial savings, and impact on the collections. Results show that interlibrary loan of lost content still represents a small fraction of prior use, savings have been considerable, and the libraries have been able to address other needs in their collections because of the decision to withdraw.

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Leaving the “Big Deal” … Five Years Later

There have been considerable changes in publishing and information dissemination over the last decade. However, the structure and process of collection development at many libraries have not kept pace. In 2006, Morris Library at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) undertook a restructuring, in order to address the changing nature of collection development. This resulted in the creation of three new positions, more opportunities for planning and analysis, and new roles for liaisons. While there are drawbacks, the new structure has provided clear benefits, and may serve as a model for other academic libraries.

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Jonathan Nabe

Papers

Leaving the “Big Deal”: Consequences and Next Steps

Dissertation Citations in Organismal Biology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale: Implications for Collection Development

E-Journal Bundling and Its Impact on Academic Libraries: Some Early Results.

Leaving the “Big Deal” … Five Years Later

What's Next for Collection Management and Managers? Changing the Organization of Collection Development