Electronic journals: managing and educating for a changing culture in academic libraries

Abstract

With the requisite IT infrastructure now becoming commonplace in academic institutions, electronic journals are becoming an established component of academic life, but the management of electronic journals can not yet be considered trouble‐free. This latest research project at Liverpool John Moores University focuses on the evaluation and promotion of electronic journals in academic libraries in the UK and in North America. The aim is to highlight any significant differences in the way that electronic journals are managed and to identify successes in order to establish “best practice”. Several issues emerge from the research. For electronic journals to become a significant alternative to the print version, there needs to be a recognition that the introduction of electronic journals will impact on working practices and staffing requirements, requiring more technical skills and competencies and changes in management priorities. Furthermore, electronic journals are still a “moving target”, making realignment even more difficult and posing awkward questions for decision makers as to the best way forward. The whole process of electronic journal development requires effective management of change. Interoperability would seem to provide the key to many of the issues involved. All of these factors influence the changing arena of LIS education.

Change implications related to electronic educational resources

“…The research found that none of the UK university libraries investigated were actively promoting e-books from the library Web page. A similar lack of marketing was found in an earlier study of e-journals (Ashcroft and McIvor, 2001). Users need to be sold on personal benefit before they buy into a service.…”

“…The emergence and take-up of e-books raises similar issues as those raised by the introduction of e-journals into library collections (Ashcroft, 2002a, b;Ashcroft and McIvor, 2001), including collection development, licence issues, user awareness, marketing and evaluation, user education, and communication and negotiating skills, particularly where consortial purchase is involved.…”

Organising e‐journals from the point of view of humanities: a case study at the University of Parma

“…A number of investigations carried out in the United States and in the UK over the last five years found out that a standard method for organising access to e-journals in libraries had not yet been established (Ashcroft and McIvor, 2001;Haas, 1998;Shemberg and Grossman, 1999;Rabine, 1999, 2001). Rather, libraries were employing different solutions, from easy-to-build up to more sophisticated and expensive ones.…”

Our Journey from Print to Electronic Resources: An Acquisitions Perspective at a Caribbean Academic Library

“…An example is the Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) which comprises a group of over ninety library consortia from all parts of the world. 13 Unlike libraries that exist in the developed world, libraries in developing countries, and certainly for us in the Caribbean, the development of a consortium is indeed challenging, mostly because of inadequate funding, varying levels of technological infrastructure and small user populations of each island. Some libraries also view their involvement in a consortium as relinquishing their decision-making power where journal title choices are concerned, while others feel that some electronic resources may be of little value to them.…”