I've been waiting for a while to follow this up, partly because I was busy in the USA doing some research, but also to see if anyone bothered to reply to the message below, which was sent a month ago. I have to say that I was not surprised (although disappointed) that no one did (or at least has not posted their reply to the list).
Searching for texts to support some recent research has led me to conclude that librarians and publishers appear to be taking a rather casual attitude towards digitised back files of journals, and either don't really understand - or don't care - about researchers and their needs.
I discovered that, in the back files of journals from at least 2 major journal publishers, there are whole issues are missing, or that complete issues have not been digitised.
The excuses that I have been offered by the publishers have been eye-openers. They range from "we didn't know" to "we bought this journal/digital file from another publisher, and it was all they had" and, more astonishingly, "editorials, news, and short communications were never digitized. There is no plan to do so because we believe that the highest ongoing value/usefulness is in article content."
Clearly there was no awareness on the part of the publishers that all the content could have been included in one of the indexing services or cited elsewhere, and would thus potentially be in demand from researchers, or that the shorter pieces are often the only clue to something significant that had happened and that could possibly be followed up in archives. Nor do they seem to see the paradox in making available completely digitised current issues, but not making the same effort with retrospective digitisation.
Librarians could take this as a further argument for retaining their backfiles of printed issues, but can they be proud of what is clearly a failure to assure themselves that they have actually received everything that they believed that they had paid for?
Ian Johnson
-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by UKSG - Connecting the Information Community [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Grigson, Anna
Sent: 03 December 2010 09:06
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [lis-e-resources] Options for filling gaps in recent e-journal holdings?
Dear all
As we move towards e-only journals collections, we are increasingly
finding that we need to fill gaps in our e-access holdings. Whilst many
publishers offer separate backfiles for pre-1990s content, the gaps we
need to fill are often for more recent years from the mid-90s and later.
In some cases we have temporary access to these years as part of a
current subscription, but we have no post-cancellation rights, whilst in
other cases we have no access at all.
Is anyone aware of publishers who are offering the option to purchase
access to 'missing' years of e-access, in the same way that we would
previously have purchased print back-runs to fill in holdings gaps? So
far the direct enquiries which I've sent to a couple of publishers have
gone unanswered.
Kind regards
Anna
*********************************************
Anna Grigson
E-Resources Manager
Royal Holloway, University of London
01784 443398
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
*********************************************
lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials
UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn
Robert Gordon University is the best modern university in the UK (The Times Good University Guide 2011) Robert Gordon University, a Scottish charity registered under charity number SC 013781. This e-mail and any attachment is for authorised use by the intended recipient(s) only. It may contain proprietary material, confidential information and/or be subject to legal privilege. It should not be copied, disclosed to, retained or used by, any other party. If you are not an intended recipient then please promptly delete this e-mail and any attachment and all copies and inform the sender. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Robert Gordon University. Thank you.
lis-e-resources is a UKSG list - http://www.uksg.org/serials
UKSG groups also available on Facebook and LinkedIn
|