E-journals: opportunities and challenges

Bharati Banerjee

Valuable Resource

Electronic journals (e-journals) are valuable resources

They are largest and fastest growing segment of the digital collections

By simple definition, they are any journal or serial publication available in electronic format

This publication may or may not have a print counterpart

Advantages

It enables immediate access to articles

Articles can be searched by a phrase or keyword

In addition, it also saves shelf space In retrospective search multiple files

can be accessed simultaneously

Evaluation

The awareness of a new e-journal may originate from a reader’s request

Recommendation from a subject librarian

An advertisement on vendor's/publisher's web site

A message in a forum, or any other source

Selection

Selecting a print journal implies deciding to subscribe

It also means providing access to the selected resource

The selection process of e- journal implies dual participation :

A. Subject specialists B. Electronic resource specialist

Pricing

E-journals are produced by different publishers just as print journals

These publishers can either be professional societies or commercial publishers such as Lexis-Nexis, Silver Platter

Publishers follow individual pricing policies The publishers offer two tiered pricing: One for institutional subscribers and librarians Another for individuals Special offers by some publishers for ‘Developing

Countries’

Three Pricing Options

Print and online - Combines print subscription with site-wide online access to the title

Online only – This entitles the customer to receive site wide online access only

Print only – The customer receives a print copy of each issue of the title for the calendar year

Aggregated Pricing

An aggregator database is a collection of full-text journals published either by publishers, such as Elsevier ScienceDirect (SciD), Kluwer titles

Other option is through a third party provider, such as Proquest by ABN/Inform Global

Aggregator journals by vendors provide access to different publishers’ journals

License Agreement

When a library subscribes to an e-journal, it only licenses it; it does not own it

A license is a contract between the publisher and the library

Many e-journals have a simple online license agreement, which is agreed upon by the librarian

The main issues covered in licensing agreements relate to the access

Providing Access

The access mechanism for e-journals consists of two key components:

user authentication and denial of access to non-subscribers

The procedure is termed as Internet Protocol (IP) authentication

The access is set up by the publisher to the license holding library

The access can also be restricted by password

12. Staffing

The amazing growth of electronic journals and the large budgets pose biggest challenges for the library staff

The dealing staff needs proficiency in: evaluating print subscriptions negotiating prices of e-journals arranging trials evaluating package deals negotiating agreements

One major impact of electronic services is the growing need for user instruction

Archiving

In case of electronic journals, archiving is dispersed among many stakeholders

The major concern is that of electronic access

Because the publisher may cease to maintain access or

Libraries may cancel a subscription

Usage & Performance

In a networked environment, the ability to monitor usage is complex and time consuming

Most e-journals are accessible from servers maintained and controlled by publishers and the aggregators

For informed decision-making on performance and usage

Usage & Performance

The libraries need timely reliable comparable and consistent statistics which can enable precise

analysis.

Conclusion

The future for e-journals is full of change and challenge

While we can be enthusiastic about the advantages of this new format, we must also be aware of potential problems related to long term preservation and future accessibility

As for librarians, migrating to e-journals implies fundamental paradigm shift but at the same time holds out tremendous opportunities.