Weill Cornell Medical College Library
Online Survey

"Now that everything is digital, why do we need a library?" The complexities of online journals ¹

There is a common misconception that online journals require less intervention on the part of library staff. Because of the ease and convenience of turning on a PC and retrieving full-text information users may not realize the efforts made on their behalf by the library to provide this service. In fact, online journals are considerably more complex and time-consuming to manage than print journals. They are profoundly changing the way libraries operate.

In addition to applying the criteria that have always been used to select journals, librarians must perform many crucial administrative activities behind the scenes. First, we must select a source through which journals can be provided electronically. This requires looking at the functionality of vendor sites, checking the timeliness and reliability of content, evaluating the commitment to archiving the content and determining whether the statistical usage data needed will be provided.

With print journals, all libraries pay the same price for subscriptions, i.e. Weill Cornell Library pays the same price as the National Library of Medicine for the same print journal subscription. With online journals however, vendors use a myriad of pricing models that require staff time to decipher and implement. For example, the price we pay for access to Science Online is based on the number of Cornell University faculty and staff for both the Ithaca and New York campuses. For American Chemical Society (ACS) online journals, our price is based on the number of print ACS journals we subscribe to. Taking another approach, ScienceDirect requires us to purchase access to all 1,100 Elsevier online journals in order to have access to the titles we want. Some publishers require libraries to purchase print subscriptions in order to purchase online subscriptions to the same titles. One journal vendor has identified more than fifty different pricing models used by publishers!

There are no license agreements associated with print journals, but every online journal or group of journals that we purchase requires us to obtain, review and, in some cases, negotiate a license agreement. Even when licenses can be successfully negotiated this process can take many months. Licenses must often be reviewed and renegotiated annually.

Once a decision has been made to acquire an online journal or group of journals, library staff begins the complex process of activating and managing the online subscriptions. Close oversight is needed as URLs change and content can disappear overnight. Additional staffing is required to respond to the inevitable snafus that happen with any electronic service - troubleshooting equipment and other technical problems both in the library and for remote users, subscription problems and vendor problems, as well as daily maintenance of computers, printers and other equipment in the library.

Access to online journals also requires constant problem solving by library staff. For example, many WMC faculty have offices at other local institutions. Unfortunately some publishers are not willing to provide access to their online content to individuals located at other institutions. Even when a publisher permits WMC personnel located at other institutions to access its online content, access may be impossible because of institutional firewalls and other technological barriers. Library staff spends a great deal of time working with individual faculty on a case-by-case basis to try to resolve access problems.

Of course, there are potential savings which, at some point, when the majority of journals are available online, should result from replacing print journals with online access. A reduced number of print subscriptions should decrease operating costs associated with functions such as binding and shelving. Unlike printed journals, online journals cannot be mutilated, stolen or mis-shelved, saving the cost of replacing such items. Online full-text also offers space saving benefits. However, all of these savings will probably be more than offset by the increased costs of staff needed to troubleshoot technical problems, assist library users and manage these complex resources.

 

1. This article is slightly revised from the original published in "Connections No. 33, Spring 2001, Denison Memorial Library, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center" and published with their permission.

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