**Apologies for cross posting**
The British Library Research and Innovation Centre has recently
published three reports:
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Authors and electronic journals/ by Cliff McKnight and Sheila Price
BLR&I report 126
ISBN 0712397264
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Available from: British Thesis Service, British Library Document
Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby LS23 7BQ tel: 01937 546229; fax:
01937 546286; email: [log in to unmask] Price in the
UK: microfiche £5.00; photocopy £12.00
The report details research conducted into various aspects of author
experience, attitudes and perceptions of publishing in paper and
electronic journals.
The findings indicate that the principal reasons for publishing are
dissemination of results and advancement of new ideas, but career
advancement and pressure stemming from the RAE are contributory
factors. Peer review is seen as a necessity for paper journals in all
subject disciplines. However, there seems to be some confusion over
the nature and extent of peer review in the electronic domain.
Responses from the author sample suggest that publication in an
electronic journal is becoming more acceptable. In the UK, the
recommendation in the Follett Report that research councils give the
same weight to refereed electronic journals as their paper
counterparts may be helping to break down author reluctance. There is
further evidence from the preprint field that authors are becoming
increasingly willing to entrust their work to the electronic medium.
Awareness of electronic journals seems reasonably high; such awareness
also seems to be more prevalent in the Humanities than in the Arts
and Sciences. The penetration of IT into the academic workplace appears
to be almost complete. Word processing is ubiquitous and over half the
authors sampled use the WWW at least weekly. Authors expressed concern
about the permanence of electronic forms of information.
In many cases electronic journals are simply the electronic embodiment
of paper journals. However, the potential exists for electronic
journals to contain other forms of information - sound, simulations,
video clips. Less than a third of the authors in the present study
felt that the addition of multimedia in a publication would be of use
to them in their subject field, although there is clearly some
potential since almost a third felt it would be of use. Seeing the
potential for multimedia is one thing but having the skills to produce
multimedia is quite different. If multimedia is to be used more, it
will require the development of suitable software tools.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Development of database access in universities; studies in usage,
expenditure, pricing and benefits/ by Harry East, Badekale Ajibade and
Kathryn Leach
BLR&I report 140
ISBN 0712397337
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Available from: British Thesis Service, British Library Document
Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Wetherby LS23 7BQ tel: 01937 546229; fax:
01937 546286; email: [log in to unmask] Price in the
UK: microfiche £5.00; photocopy £12.00
The report covers a three year project of continuing studies on
database access in British higher education institutions. It contains
analyses of database service development and expenditure relating to
availability of different types of database access services in the
academic community. In particular it presents two surveys of CD-ROM
acquisitions in UK academic institutions (1995, 1996), an analysis of
BIDS-ISI usage, the relationship between the Research Assessment
Exercise and usage of BIDS-ISI; an analysis of the comparative usage
of BIDS services: ISI, EMBASE, COMPENDEX and IBSS; a survey on
attitudes to the pricing of JISC-funded databases; studies on the
pricing of JISC database services.
Two special studies are described: 1) the development, testing and
implementation of a technique for "real time" surveys of online use
that is minimally intrusive for endusers but which ensures that valid,
representative samples are obtained and 2) a survey on how resource
allocation strategies for access to electronic database services are
operated by senior decision makers in higher education library and
information services.
--------------------------------------------------------------
A survey of library services to schools and children in the UK
1997-98/ by Claire Creaser and Alison Murphy
BLR&I report 150
ISBN: 1901786110
--------------------------------------------------------------
Available from: Publications Section, LISU, Loughborough University,
Loughborough LE11 3TU tel: 01509 223071; fax: 01509 223072; email:
[log in to unmask] Price in the UK: £22.50
This is the ninth annual report from LISU covering the provision of
public library services to children and the school library service in
the UK. Details are given of staffing levels, service provision, stock
and expenditure for individual library authorities, together with an
extensive commentary, including summary tables, giving the UK-wide
picture. One section looks at trends over the last five years by
sector - particularly valuable in areas where local government
reorganisation has limited the scope for individual authority
comparisons over time. A new section gives details of the wide range
of services offered by schools library services, and coverage of the
many different ways such services are financed.
Full details of all reports published by the Centre from 1997 to date
are available on the Centre's web pages:
http://www.bl.uk/services/ric/
*******************************
Simon Matty
Information Officer
Research and Innovation Centre
The British Library
2 Sheraton Street
London W1V 4BH
tel: 0171 412 7054
fax: 0171 412 7251
email: [log in to unmask]
*******************************
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|
