Physician Heal Thyself: The Library and Information Science Serials Crisis

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Physician Heal Thyself The Library and
Information Science Serials Crisis

• Deborah Schmidle/Barbara Via
• University at Albany
• The Charleston Conference
• November 1, 2002

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The Serials Pricing Problem
"Librarians are suffering because of the
increasing volume of publications and rapidly
rising prices. Of special concern is the much
larger number of periodicals that are available
and that members of the faculty consider
essential to the successful conduct of their
work. Many instances were found in which science
departments were obligated to use their
allotment for library purposes to purchase their
periodical literature which was regarded as
necessary for the work of the department.
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The Serials Pricing Problem
G. A. Works, "College and University Library
Problems a Study of a Selected Group of
Institutions," prepared for the Association of
American Universities, Chicago, American Library
Association, 1927.
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The Serials Pricing Problem A Brief History

• Not a new problem
• Prevalent in print literature for 20 years
• Newsletter on Serials Pricing Issues
• ARL statistics

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Price increases American Libraries

• 119 Library and Information Science journals
• Covers same titles each year
• Excludes new titles

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Pricing Increases/Schmidle Via

• Ninety-one journals
• Selected from Library Literature Information
  Science
• English language
• Excludes regional publications and newsletters

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Average yearly price increase

• American Libraries 8.5
• Schmidle/Via 14.3

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Price Increases 1997-2002

• The Bottom Line 483
• Collection Building 483
• Internet Research 329
• Interlend. and Document Supply 268
• OCLC Systems Services 256

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Price Increases 1997-2002 cont.

• Library Hi Tech 241
• Reference Services Review 241
• Library Review 204
• Electronic Library 201
• Online Information Review 145

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Commercial vs. Professional Associations

• Reference and Users Services Quarterly 50/19
• Reference Services Review 269/241

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Commercial vs. Professional Associations

• Library Trends 85/13
• Library Review 6,839/204

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Ten Most Expensive Journals

• Library Management 9,849
• Library Review 6,839
• Internet Research 1,539
• JASIST 1,380
• Information Processing
• and Management 1,045

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Ten Most Expensive Journals cont.

• The Bottom Line 869
• Collection Building 869
• OCLC Systems 709
• Interlend. and Document Supply 659
• Jr. of Govt Inform. 607

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Ten Least Expensive Journals

• VOYA 42
• Journal of Youth Services 40
• Knowledge Quest 40
• Archival Issues 40
• Against the Grain 40

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Ten Least Expensive Journals cont.

• Journal of Information Ethics 38
• RBM 35
• Progressive Librarian 35
• Library Mosaics 22
• Rural Libraries 20

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Core Journals in LISHighest Ranked Journals
(2002 prices)

• American Libraries 60
• College and Research Lib. 60
• Information Outlook 65
• Journal of Acad. Lib. 222
• JASIST 1,380
• Library Journal 109
• Library Quarterly 76

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Core Journals in LISHighest Ranked Journals
cont.

• Library Res. Tech. Services 55
• Library Trends 85
• Online 115
• RUSQ 50
• School Lib. Jr. 97.50
• List was compiled based on an article by Kim,
  Mary T. Ranking of Journals in Library and
  Information Science A Comparison of Perceptual
  and Citation-based Measures. College Research
  Libraries 521 (January 1991) pp.24-37.

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Mean prices

• Core list 198
• Top Ten 2,437
• SV 403

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Monograph vs. Serial

• Academic Research on the Internet
• 49.95
• Journal of Library Administration
• 131.00

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Impact on Collection Development

• Examined holdings for 45 libraries with Schools
  of Library and Information Science
• Only a handful dropped subscription
• Libraries respond to users, not price increases
• Impacts budgets

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Solutions?

• Business as usual?
• Boycott publishers?
• Libraries as scholarly publishers?

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Libraries as Scholarly Publishers

• portal Libraries and the Academy
  http//muse.jhu.edu/journals/pla/
• Scholarly Publishing Academic Resource Coalition
  (SPARC) www.sparc.org
• Create Change www.createchange.org

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portal Libraries and the Academy

• Founded in 2001
• Reaction to purchase of JAL
• Johns Hopkins University Press
• Peer-reviewed
• Full-text online and in print

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SPARC

• World-wide alliance
• Projects in North America, UK, Ireland, Europe,
  Asia, Australia, and New Zealand
• Facilitates use of technology to expand access
• Four membership levels

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Createchange.org

• Co-sponsored by ARL, ACRL, and SPARC
• Created as response to commercialization of
  scholarly publishing
• Encourage scholars to regain control
• Promote information exchange

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Conclusion

• Figures speak for themselves
• Prices continue to rise
• Commercial increases far outweigh professional
  association increases

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Questions/Comments

• Bvia_at_uamail.albany.edu
• Dschmidle_at_uamail.albany.edu
• http//library.albany.edu/dewey/presentations/char
  leston/charleston.htm