Newsletter: Falvey Library: Spring 1997: Special Issue: Electronic Journals

From the Editor
 

Journal literature published in electronic format has created simultaneously exciting and disturbing possibilities for the scholarly community. Falvey Library recognizes the impact electronic publishing will have on both libraries and library users. The following position paper, authored by the Task Force on Electronic Journals, addresses these diverse issues and describes the current status and future plans for electronic journals in Falvey Library. Charged by Library Director James Mullins, the Task Force includes Susan Markley, chair, Head, Periodicals; Dereck Brassington, Business Reference Librarian; Dennis Lambert, Head, Collection Development and Management; and Susan Ottignon, Reference Librarian.

Electronic Journals: Opportunities and Challenges

As we approach the new millennium, libraries are facing major changes in how they provide and access information. The phenomenal growth of the Internet and World Wide Web has revolutionized the way we look at such lasting and reliable research tools as th e printed journal. Something as unchanged and familiar as the printed page is suddenly being challenged by an entirely new format, the electronic journal.

Currently, electronic journal publishing is seeking its market. This should take some time. Therefore, we should view this period as a time of transition to a more electronically-based future.

Falvey Library intends to respond boldly to this new electronic resource, while continuing our traditional roles of selecting journal titles, assisting our patrons with their use, and providing access to previously published resources.

Overview: What Exactly Are Electronic Journals?
 

Before discussing the various opportunities and challenges associated with electronic journals, it is best to understand just what these resources are. By simple definition, they are any journal or serial publication available in electronic format. This publication may or may not have a print counterpart. When a print counterpart does exist, the contents for both formats should be identical; however, the electronic version may be enhanced by the use of hypertext links available through the World Wi de Web. Links can be established to related articles, to other articles by the author, or to supporting data not published as part of the article itself. These publications will also have the rigorous editorial and review process associated with their print counterpart.

The free and open nature of the Internet and Web allows for the publication of journals that do not have a print counterpart. These titles may not have the rigorous editorial and review process associated with the more established publications with a print counterpart.

Obviously, what distinguishes an electronic journal is its format and method of distribution. The most basic electronic journals exist as simple text files. Here the focus is on the text of the articles; graphics, such as pictures, charts, or illustrations are not incorporated into the text. These journals are available on the Internet as a gopher or Web site or are distributed to subscribers via electronic mail. With the phenomenal growth of the Internet, many electronic journals are now published directly on the Web. They primarily exist as Hypertext Mark up Language (HTML) or Standard Generalized Mark up Language (SGML) documents enabling them to incorporate the hypertext links characteristic of the Web. Other electronic journals on the Web are produced as image files. Here the intention is to create an electronic representation of the printed publication. Many of these journals are created as Portable Document Format (PDF) files. In order to view them, the user must have a PDF viewer, such as the Adobe Acrobat, configured on their computer. Electronic journals created as image files will put the greatest demand on a network and require the user to have a high-end computer.

While full-text databases provide the text of articles from thousands of publications ranging from newspapers and popular magazines to research journals, the content is not the exact equivalent of their print counterparts. These databases are marketed as full-text databases, not full-contents databases. Each database producer will have its own criteria for determining what items from a journal are to be included in the database. These databases cannot be relied on to provide the content equivalent of the paper issue. For example, the full-text of the f ollowing material is almost never included: announcements, appointments, letters, calls for papers, and financial and statistical data (i.e., stock prices or sports scores in newspapers). The following items may be included: book, movie, or performance reviews, editorials, obituaries, short articles, tables, correction notices, and footnotes or endnotes.

Along with not providing the full contents of publications, a full-text database may also not provide the complete content of an article as it appears in the print issue. The following non-text items are consistently left out of articles in such full-text databases as Knight-Ridder (DIALOG), Dow Jones News/Retrieval, and LEXIS/NEXIS: charts and graphs, tables, illustrations, photographs, and cartoons. As previously noted, only full-text databases that store articles as scanned image files will give the complete content of an article. Another factor that varies between databases is the publication schedule for the current issues of a journal. Issues may appear immediately after publication of their print counterpart or weeks after publication. For example, the most recent full-text issue of The Economist on EbscoHost, one electronic journal supplier, is two issues behind the current newsstand copy; on ProQuest Direct, it is one issue behind.

Opportunities Presented by Electronic Journals

Electronic journals present numerous opportunities for both the library and its patrons. These benefits include:

• ability to deliver current journal issues to users outside the library.

• low maintenance, as the staff does not handle issues for check-in, binding, or reshelving.

• enhancement of the research process, as a single computer terminal provides access to searching and displaying the journal articles.

• more immediate access to articles since the lengthy publication and distribution process associated with paper journals is eliminated.

• greater access to materials, from any location, at any time.

• access to other relevant materials or Web sites through hypertext links (see Current Status of Electronic Journals at Falvey Memorial Library).

• ability to search the text of an issue for articles containing a particular keyword or phrase.

Challenges Presented by Electronic Journals

Along with the opportunities, electronic journals also present several challenges. For the library, these challenges are in the areas of computer resources, subscription management, staffing, and collection development.

Computer Resources

For electronic journals to be a viable alternative, the library and campus must have the necessary technological infrastructure in place. This includes providing adequate computers in the library for quick and easy access. Also, the campus network connections must be reliable and have sufficient capacity to support the extra load electronic journals and full-text databases will place on the network. Today, users trying to access popular Web sites often encounter significant delays in connecting to the system and slow response time during peak usage hours. This adversely affects user satisfaction and acceptance of electronic resources.

With paper journals, the library relies on a commercial vendor to manage individual subscriptions. Currently, these vendors do not broker subscription agreements for individual electronic journals. Tracking these subscriptions, with the restrictions and limitations imposed by each publisher, will be time-consuming and labor intensive for the library staff. Also, many major publishers or associations may only offer access to all their titles as part of a special subscription package. These package plans can be problematic too. In the future, we can hope that vendors will assume subscription management services for electronic journals as they have done in the past with print titles. The issue of ownership and access to back issues must also be addressed. With paper journals, all issues received as part of a subscription are owned outright by the library. For electronic journals, the subscription generally provides the right to access the journal during the subscription period. A question needing clarification is whether annual subscriptions will include the right to access back issues without having to pay additional fees. Also, if titles are canceled or cease publication, does th e library still have access rights to back issues published during the subscription period? Another concern is that, unlike print journals, publishers of electronic journals may impose restrictions on the number of users who can simultaneously access their publication. The library may be required to pay additional fees to permit more simutaneous users. Subscription agreements may also stipulate that only Villanova-affiliated users have access to the electronic journal. This practice is more _common with commercial online services offering special academic discounts, such as LEXIS/NEXIS. Immediate savings realized from canceling paper subscriptions may be more than offset by the unforeseen costs of accessing electronic information. As publishers face declining print revenues because of cancellations, they will make up the losses by increasing the access fees to their electronic titles and backfiles. Also, full-text databases could face losing coverage of key titles as publishers require direct subscriptions to garner more revenue. Database subscription costs will also continue to rise to offset increases in publisher prices to vendors in the competition for dollars. 

Electronic journals definitely present challenges for the library staff who must become proficient in dealing with these resources and with assisting students and faculty in their use. 

Electronic journals will also present challenges for collection development and selection. Assessing the quality of new journals may be especially difficult for titles that lack an established print counterpart, that are not indexed, and that are not published by scholarly societies or well-known publishers. In addition, a reliable method of measuring usage of these titles must later be devised so unused titles can be canceled and new ones added. This also applies to "free" titles as there are costs involved in making them accessible. Before selecting an electronic title the official version of that title must be determined. Electronic versions will probably become the official edition when publishers establish a sufficient market for them. If the official, complete, and definitive version is the paper edition, then the electronic version may be purchased to enhance access but not to replace the printed format. Conversely, if it is determined that the official version of a journal is electronic, then that format will be purchased by t he library, rather than the print copy. This formula will become applicable with all future faculty requests of new periodical titles. Also, maintaining an accurate list of electronic titles in our collection will be highly problematic because commercial vendors retain the right to add or drop titles at will, without any prior notification to library licensees. Falvey Library should resist the urge to cancel a print journal solely because an electronic version has become available. If the print and electronic versions are on a par, the Task Force recommends that the library support both formats for a transition period, especially if the print version has a history of substantial use and falls within our core collection of journals. Any review project seeking to replace paper journals with electronic should start with low use titles, outside the library's core collection, at least until electronic journals are a widely accepted format.

A major concern with electronic journals is that they are not a recognized preservation format. Only long-life paper and good quality, high density microfilm currently offer some assurance that a journal's content will survive for a long period of time. The strength of electronic journals is their accessibility, not their permanence.

Also, there is no assurance that publishers and vendors will maintain indefinitely the archives of their electronic journals. Lack of publisher interest in a particular title or poor storage conditions could literally wipe out the only record of a journa l's run, as opposed to today's paper collections residing in many locations, under the control of the libraries themselves. One promising solution to this archival question can be found in the JSTOR Project sponsored by the Mellon Foundation.

JSTOR was conceived to be an electronic database of all pre-1990 issues of ten core journals in the fields of economics and history. For a yearly fee, the library can access this full-text journal literature through a powerful search engine, using standard PC equipment. The intention of the Project is to provide convenient search capabilities for older titles, improve the preservation of this material, and reduce library costs for binding and storage. Future plans for the nonprofit JSTOR include expanding their database to cover more disciplines and linking current issues to the backfiles.

Challenges for the User

The greatest challenge for users will be developing a comfort level with electronic journals. Accessing electronic journals may be as daunting to some patrons as using microfilm is to others. These journals are not conducive to casual or random browsing . Reading large amounts of text on a computer screen is uncomfortable for most patrons. Also, many users become frustrated if they experience slow response time when trying to access these publications. Electronic journals stored as image files force patrons to use a viewer like Adobe Acrobat, which may also lead to frustration because it demands some knowledge of Adobe Acrobat commands for sizing the text to a readable level, for moving from page to page, and for blocking just a portion of text for printing or saving.

In the final analysis, how patrons use an electronic journal will most likely determine their satisfaction level. Those wanting to read or browse current issues for current awareness purposes may not be as satisfied as someone who just wants to print the text of a cited article or search for articles on a particular topic. Falvey Library should devise methods to measure how patrons are using electronic journals and their satisfaction with these resources.

Current Status of Electronic Journals at Falvey Memorial Library

Presently, Falvey Library provides access to a limited number of electronic journals. Some subscriptions are offered through publisher package plans, such as the Johns Hopkins University Press' PROJECT MUSE [http://muse.jhu.edu]. This Project allows electronic access by subscription to the full text of all the Press' scholarly titles in the humanities, the social sciences, and mathematics. The database provides for keyword and boolean searching and hypertext links that enable the user to move between a journal's table of contents and articles. Both the American Institute of Physics and SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics) are providing free electronic access to their journals when the library has a print subscription. Also, Falvey Li brary provides access, through our homepage, to some currently free titles found on the Web, such as Fortune, Business Week, Money, and The Economist.

The Library also provides access to numerous full-text databases. These include the full-text sources available on Dow Jones News/Retrieval, LEXIS/NEXIS, FirstSearch, and Knight-Ridder (DIALOG). Falvey also subscribes to specific databases with full-t ext articles, such as Expanded Academic Index and ProQuest Direct ABI/INFORM.

Although the number of electronic journals available is still relatively small, the current trend in journal publishing is to offer electronic access to more print titles, especially in the sciences. Major publishers, such as Elsevier and Academic Press [http://www.idealibrary.com/], are now making available electronic versions of their print journals on a subscription basis. As mentioned before, JSTOR [http://www.jstor.org], a nonprofit organization, is offering electronic access to scholarly backfiles of numerous core titles in the humanities and social sciences. With so many other publishers and vendors developing new products for sale to the evolving library market, making a definitive appraisal of the current situation seems premature.

Future Strategies for Falvey Library

This Task Force proposes that 1997 usher in a demonstration and evaluation period for electronic journals in Falvey Library. Over the course of the year, the following goals should be addressed:

• Form a standing committee consisting of the Heads of Periodicals and Collection Development and Management, the Electronic Resources Librarian, the Serials Cataloger, the Systems Librarian, and the Director (ex-officio) to evaluate these journals, their use, and their effect on patron satisfaction and the library workforce.

• Consult with UNIT about the likely effect electronic journals will have on campus network and verify the reliability of the network if eventually only electronic journals were available from the library.

• Identify well-established journals to purchase in electronic format. This should include a mix of scholarly and popular titles, across a variety of disciplines.

• Gather and assess information from publishers about their pricing or package plans, their restrictions and requirements, and their policies on archiving back issues.

• Be proactive in making the campus community aware of these resources.

• Communicate with other universities and colleges who actively provide access to electronic journals at this time.

By 1998, the Library should be prepared to address the following issues:

• Identify those electronic journals useful to specific audiences, such as research level titles primarily used by faculty.

• Introduce more individual titles in electronic format, rather than concentrating on titles only available in publisher plans or in full-text databases.

• Begin cataloging electronic journals for inclusion in the online catalog.

• >Evaluate how electronic journals are affecting the workflow and established policies and procedures of the various departments most often dealing with them; train staff to work effectively with the new format.

• >Establish criteria for the selection and retention of titles in electronic format.

• Establish tracking procedures for analyzing the use of these titles.

• Establish effective measurements to gauge user satisfaction.

• Continue the retention of those paper subscriptions duplicating electronic journals, but establish guidelines for their eventual cancellation if deemed outside our core collection.

Finally, Falvey Library's long-term strategy through the year 2001 should include the following goals:

• Add more electronic titles in areas where faculty and students have demonstrated an acceptance of this format.

• Begin the process of canceling paper subscriptions, on a title-by-title basis, using the established guidelines developed in 1997/1998.

Conclusion

As we approach the year 2000, Falvey Library will continue to serve as the primary information resource for the Villanova University community, fulfilling the University's educational and research mission. Continuous improvement of information delivery is an important goal of the Library. Toward this end, electronic journals represent another format that needs to be integrated into the collection and made fully accessible to users.

While we can be enthusiastic about the advent of this new format, we must also be aware of potential problems, such as variations in content, uncertainties with pricing, lack of archival controls, and failures in networking and technology. Hopefully, ven dors and publishers will find ways to offer the many advantages of electronic journals while reducing their disadvantages and limitations. During this period of transition, patience will be vital, as users, currently comfortable with print, will need tim e to reach that same level of comfort with the electronic journal of the future.

Contributors: Susan Markley, Dereck Brassington, Dennis Lambert, Susan Ottignon

Newsletter Editor: Judith Olsen