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Outline

I.      Introduction
II.     Background Information

A.  Trends in Higher Education
B.  Campus and Library Trends

III.    Why Migrate?

A.  Cost Issues
B.   Space

IV.    Archiving and Permanent Preservation of Access
V.     Collection Development and Electronic Formats - Guidelines
VI.    Next Steps
VII.   Conclusion

I.    Introduction

The Library has begun a proactive movement toward an increasingly electronic environment. As we proceed in this direction, librarians need to actively communicate with their faculty about the coming changes, their benefits and implications, and any issues related to the provision of information resources in electronic format.

This document is intended to provide selectors with the contextual framework for their faculty interactions, and as such, should be used in conjunction with other documentation provided by IRC in support of collection development activities. Issues and needs of disciplines will, of course, vary. Selectors should build their own "scripts" or "outlines" when preparing to work with faculty as we move toward the electronic future.
 

A.  Trends in Higher Education

• Undergraduate education and collaborative learning will require the application of new information technologies and new pedagogical methodologies that will be developed jointly by librarians, faculty, and students. In turn, these new approaches are resulting in enhanced models of library service.

• We are seeing an increase in the number of commercial journal publishers entering the electronic publishing marketplace. More Web-based full-text journals are available. Over the past 3-5 years, an increasing number of journal titles have been converted to electronic format. Since 1997, a significant number of commercial publishers have committed to electronic publishing for their journals.

• Subscription rates continue to increase at a significant pace. For the past decade, inflation rates have averaged 9.5% increase per year. At the same time, many publishers continue to require subscription to both print and e-format, often without offering any price reduction for a single format. And, the volume of articles published continues to increase at an amazing pace: the rate of increase for science journal articles published is increasing at an average rate of 13% per year (4,793 in 1993, 7,758 in 1997). In response to these economic pressures, libraries are cooperating in consortia arrangements and beginning to negotiate subscription prices in an attempt to reduce costs.

• The scholarly community has not yet fully embraced publication in electronic-only journals. Concern remains high over the impact of this new mode of scholarly communication on the promotion and tenure process.


B.  Campus and Library Trends/Goals

III.  Why Migrate?

A.  Cost

Cost is a major factor in selection and storage decisions because of the continuing decline in the Library's buying power. Although the dollar figures are higher, the Library's buying power has been halved relative to what it was twenty years ago. Inflation rates for periodicals continue to rise, averaging 10.4% per year since 1995.

The cost of maintaining a print collection goes well beyond the cost of subscription. Libraries must also consider the costs involved in processing, cataloging, shelving, repair and maintenance of deteriorating collections, maintenance of appropriate environmental factors, etc. All of this is being done in recent years with fewer staff. Technical services staffing at the UA Library has been reduced and, in fact, overall staff numbers at the Library have decreased.

The assumption is that by moving to electronic formats, the processing, cataloging, shelving, repair, and maintenance costs, if not the subscription costs, will be reduced.

The Library is also seeking solutions to problems caused by reduced buying power and staffing through consortial arrangements for resource sharing, low-cost improvements of interlibrary loan and document delivery operations.

B.  Space

The Library is facing a critical shortage of space for patrons, shelving, storage, and personnel. Every part of the Library is nearing its recommended shelving capacity and will exceed it in the next several years if collecting trends continue. We are at an average of 75% storage/shelving capacity for the entire Library collection and have current average collection growth rate of 5%. (For more details,see the Space Team Report at http://www.library.arizona.edu/library/teams/space/branches/main.htm)

Some libraries have chosen to deal with space issues by instituting remote storage. The costs of maintaining an off-site storage facility are substantial and include additional expenses, such as those associated with archiving, accessing, retrieving and delivering materials. There would be additional staff, maintenance and property costs for a remote storage building.

By moving proactively to electronic formats whenever possible, the Library will slow the collection growth rate.

IV.  Archiving and Permanent Preservation of Access

Concerns abound over archiving, migration, and preservation of electronic resources for the long term.

The Library is committed to take advantage of electronic technology to provide broader, more extensive access, and to support integration of electronic resources and information technology into the curriculum.

For those materials available only in electronic format, the Library will make sure that there will be ongoing access to the collection via an agreement with the publisher or another partner such as AULC, CRL, or other consortial arrangements.

The Library will provide a range of access points to electronic resources, such as:

• full cataloging and accessibility through the Sabio catalog;
• browsing of titles through the Sabio gateway;
• linkages and integration between resources - e.g. indexes and electronic journals, if available.

Wherever possible, the Library will work to provide reliable access to appropriate technology for using electronic resources within the Library. Downloading, exporting, and printing functions must be dependable and easy to use by customers.

V.  Collection Development and Electronic Formats - Guidelines

The following are provided as guidelines to selectors at the University of Arizona for developing and reviewing proposals and in understanding issues involved in negotiation of contracts with providers of electronic formats. Collection development policy and criteria must beapplied consistently across formats including electronic resources:

1. Selectors must take into account identification and assessment of faculty and student information needs and how the electronic resources will be integrated into the collection when making decisions involving digital resources,.
2. The Library is moving away from ownership in the electronic environment, preferring remote access (via Internet, WWW, etc.) whenever possible for ease of use, wider access, possible saving in the costs of maintenance, processing, and storage.
3. It is library policy to fund an information resource in only one format. Formats include print, CD-ROM, microform, electronic tape load, gateways, etc. However, in order to gather data from customers prior to making the acquisition decision, selectors may choose to purchase and load a duplicate for as brief a time as is feasible to get that input. Selectors must work with the TST Ordering Team to terminate the non-preferred format. An exception will be allowed for a trial period, as described below.
4. Any assessment period should be as short as possible, never exceeding one year in duration. Any exception to this rule must be carefully justified. Only documented user need will permit multiple-format duplication for more than a trial period of one year.
5. Selectors should use their best judgment, based on feedback from faculty and students and dialogue with their teams and/or subject cluster, in choosing the highest presentation, formatting, and distribution medium for the content. In addition, selectors must investigate cost/benefit and risk. Quality and use, not the specific medium, should be the primary consideration in choosing the product. However, priority is given to electronic resources that offer:

• Integrity of the database
• Economies of scale
• Benefit to the greatest number of users
• Time availability
• Extensive content
• Increased functionality
• Enhanced access to remote users
• Improved resource sharing
• Ease of archiving and replacing

VI.  Next Steps

    1.  Selectors will cancel print products when reliable electronic alternatives are available.

The Library is currently subscribing to journals both in electronic, full-text format and in paper format. The electronic versions are largely accessible through publisher aggregations, including:
 
• Academic IDEAL - The UA Library subscribes to 175 journals out of the 200 provided through Academic IDEAL.
• ScienceDirect - The UA Library subscribes to approximately 300 out of the 1000+ journals provided through ScienceDirect.
• Project Muse - The UA Library subscribes to 36 out of the 40+ journals provided through Project Muse.

The Library's budget and collection development policy can not support the continuation of dual formats for the above e-journal collections past the 2000 calendar year. Selectors will need to make format-related decisions on these titles, beginning this Fall (1999). By late October 2000, all titles shall be reviewed and unless the electronic version is determined to be clearly unreliable and inadequate to meet customer need, the print subscription should be cancelled.

Timeline:

August - September 15, 1999 - Teams will discuss how they will approach this effort. IRC members are available to meet with teams to facilitate discussion and coordinate activities.

August - September 1999 - Selectors will review Project Muse titles. (Project Muse has been available for more than one year).

• Evaluate electronic version for reliability / adequacy to meet customer needs.
• Solicit feedback and engage in discussion with campus customers on choice between print and electronic formats.


October 1999 - Selectors will submit decisions to TST to cancel duplicate format (either print or electronic) for Project Muse titles.

August - December 1999 - All selectors will actively promote new electronic journal collections and begin discussions on print-to-electronic migration with campus customers (faculty, staff and students).

January - May 2000 - Ongoing discussion with campus customers regarding print-to-electronic migration issues.

May - September 2000 - Selectors will draft lists of titles from aggregator packages for cancellation, with format to be cancelled specified.

September - October 2000 - Final decisions on journals included in aggregator packages. Cancellation of either print or electronic communicated to TST by late October 2000.

Attention: Selectors must review titles on these lists and engage faculty in a dialogue about canceling these titles in the paper format. Preference is given to retaining electronic subscriptions, both for reasons of cost and space savings.
 

JSTOR project develops online access to the full back files of selected journals. We aim to remove our print holdings of backruns contained within the JSTOR collection). This will save the Library the shelf space occupied by the 96 journal titles (5,222 volumes). This is one component of space management, and will serve to increase our capacity to acquire/add to our holdings of non-duplicated titles.

Selectors can view currently available journals, alphabetically or by subject at http://www.jstor.org/about/alpha.content.html. Subject topics include: African-American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, History, Literature, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies, Sociology, Statistics.

JSTOR continues to add to the online collection as the "rolling window" moves along. Selectors have an ongoing responsibility to keep up to date with what new years of coverage have been added to the electronic product and arrange for withdrawal each year. TST is responsible for developing a mechanism for the withdrawal of these titles. IRC is responsible for ensuring selectors are communicating with faculty and providing guidance as necessary, and for working with TST to make sure the withdrawal process takes place.
 

In evaluating titles for online electronic-only access, selectors will involve faculty and students in evaluating these products. The Library is allowing a brief (1 year) period in which titles may be duplicated in order to ease the transition from print to electronic format. Selectors must reinforce with faculty the fact that this is a transition period only. Selectors should engage faculty in dialogues during the early Fall, and start canceling by late October 1999. The full review and final decisions should be complete by October 2000.