Carrie Sherlock The College of Optometrists
Greater availability of E-Journals Users now expect access from anywhere, anytime Many of us are running out of storage space for print journals Squeeze on library budgets. Managers often suggest going e-only as a money saver Our role as stewards of specialist collections carries responsibility to ensure continued access
Definitions ◦ Perpetual Access: Most commonly associated with e- journal license clauses designed to provide assurance of continued access to subscribed material in certain circumstances, including post-cancellation ◦ Archiving: Describes the process & procedures whereby e-journal content may be managed for the short or long term ◦ Long-term Preservation: Refers to the processes & procedures required to ensure content remains accessible well into the future, regardless of any technical or organisational changes ◦ (Source: Jones, M e-Journals: Archiving and Preservation Briefing Paper. London: JISC)
To consider before cancelling print ◦ Are the back files open access? E.g. BMJ ◦ Are the back files included in your subscription? ◦ What access do you retain when you cancel your subscription? ◦ What access method will you be provided with, post cancellation? E.g. Hosted on publisher’s site, or sent a CD-ROM?
Licence clauses to protect perpetual access ◦ Librarians should seriously consider checking for or inserting clauses for perpetual access to meet one or both of these purposes: To ensure long-term access to & preservation of negotiated back files To negotiate post-cancellation access ◦ The CHILL Model License contains clauses that meet these purposes, as does the NESLi2 Model License, used by JISC Collections
8.5 After termination of this Agreement (save for a material breach by the Licensee of its obligations under this Agreement) the Publisher will provide (at the option of the Licensee) the Licensee and its Authorised and Walk-in Users with access to and use of the full text of the Licensed Material which was published and paid for within the Subscription Period, either by i) continuing online access to archival copies of the same Licensed Material on the Publisher's server which shall be without charge; or ii) by supplying archival copies of the same Licensed Material in an electronic medium mutually agreed between the parties which will be delivered to the Licensee or to a central archiving facility operated on behalf of the UK HE/FE community or other archival facility (excluding an archival facility of a STM publisher) without charge; or iii) supplying without charge archival copies via ftp protocol of the same Licensed Material. For the avoidance of doubt access and use of archival copies shall be subject to the terms and conditions as set out in Clauses 3 and 4 of this Agreement. (Source: The Model NESLi2 Licence for Journals)The Model NESLi2 Licence for Journals
If the publisher does not agree to post- cancellation access, not much you can do if you need the publication and they are sole supplier Large consortiums such as JISC Collections and OhioLINK have more bargaining power, but we are not part of them
Why should we care? ◦ Some of us are the stewards of some specialised collections & it is our responsibility to ensure certain titles exist in perpetuity ◦ Tied in with perpetual access. If you have successfully negotiated access to an archive, you need to ensure that it will be available to you should the publisher cease to exist
What are the options? ◦ Join up with or support an existing initiative at the national or regional level ◦ Examples include: CLOCKSS, LOCKSS, Portico ◦ Access and standards vary between these ◦ Can check that the publisher of your journal is signed up to one of these
If you are going digital, you need to ensure that your users can access subscribed and open access journals as quickly and easily as possible How will you will manage remote access ◦ Athens? Proxy Server? Does the publisher support these? ◦ Do you need a link resolver? ◦ Does your subscription agent or an aggregator provide a hosting or access solution? E.g. EBSCO’s A-Z service
Part of the decision making and planning process of going digital is understanding the needs and behaviour of your user groups ◦ How do they search for the information that they need? This can affect access management and gateway decisions ◦ What is the average age of the materials viewed/requested? This can aid you in deciding between purchasing back file access or relying on ILL for older articles
How will this decision affect the bottom line, and what budgetary considerations need to be thought of? ◦ Cost savings: Time and money saved on cataloguing, processing, shelving ◦ New costs: Access management, back file access ◦ Most CHILL libraries don’t qualify for membership of JISC-Funded initiatives such as: JISC Collections Consortium & UK Access Management Federation
Good idea to stay abreast of current and future developments and national and international initiatives in the fields of perpetual access, open access, and digital preservation. Get involved with projects such as UK LOCKSS and UK PubMed Central if you can Listen to todays presentations, share your experiences & concerns with your CHILL colleagues in today’s workshop to see how others are dealing with some of the issues I’ve presented
JISC Collections Ensuring that ‘e’ doesn’t mean ephemeral: A practical guide to e-journal archiving solutions. London: JISCEnsuring that ‘e’ doesn’t mean ephemeral: A practical guide to e-journal archiving solutions. Jones, M e-Journals: Archiving and Preservation Briefing Paper. London: JISCe-Journals: Archiving and Preservation Briefing Paper Charles Beagrie Limited Ensuring Perpetual Access: Establishing a Federated Strategy on Perpetual Access & Hosting of Electronic Resources for Germany.Ensuring Perpetual Access: Establishing a Federated Strategy on Perpetual Access & Hosting of Electronic Resources for Germany. (Section on International Context provides good overview of large initiatives worldwide). Research Information Network E-journals: their use, value & impact. London: RINE-journals: their use, value & impact (Good section on user behaviour)
Jim Stemper & Susan Barribeau, Perpetual Access to Electronic Journals. Library Resources & Technical Services, 50(2), 91. (Available via ProQuest to CILIP members) Jones, W (ed) E-Journals access and management. London: Routledge Curtis, D E-journals: a how-to-do-it manual for building, managing, and supporting electronic journal collections. London: Facet Publishing