The authors recount experiences of the variety of problems and issues involved in providing access to electronic journals in a large academic library. The paper excludes concerns emanating from decisions to subscribe to aggregations such as those produced by vendors like EBSCO, but concentrates on scholarly journals ordered individually, or as…

The traditional mode of operation of academic libraries is in crisis due to a combination of zero growth funding, rapidly escalating pricing on information resources (especially scientific journals), necessary investments in technology and human resource development, and increasing customer expectations. These issues are addressed as they relate…

Examines changing relationships between subscription agents, librarians, and publishers as a result of electronic journals. Discusses customer expectations, pricing models, and the subscription agent's new role as aggregator, acting as an intermediary who offers the end user access to the library's electronic journals via the Internet. (LRW)

The role of the research library and issues in access to increasing quantities of information are discussed, including the problems of cataloging and classifying information and the barriers to access often created by librarians. (MSE)

This paper provides a brief survey of Australian newspaper publishing history and describes the National Library's Australian newspaper holdings. Its newspaper collection policy and some of the national issues and initiatives being undertaken to ensure access to and preservation of Australian newspapers are outlined. Highlights include: retention…

This paper analyzes the issues and problems while looking at the trends and developments of serials publishing in Malaysia. The first section provides background; topics addressed include the country and people of Malaysia, the history of serials publishing in Malaysia, categories and formats of serials publishing, academic publications,…

Illustrates the ethical dilemmas of library collection development through three specific examples related to scholarly communication, including the ongoing effort by publishers to use licensing contracts to abolish interlibrary loans for information in electronic format. Considers information needs of clients versus optimizing public access to…

Provides an overview of companies offering Web accessible subscriptions to full text electronic versions of scientific, technical, and medical journals (Academic Press, Blackwell, EBSCO, Elsevier, Highwire Press, Information Quest, Institute of Physics, Johns Hopkins University Press, OCLC, OVID, Springer, and SWETS). Also lists guidelines for…

Discusses electronic serials that are available on noncommercial international computer networks such as BITNET and Internet. Issues affecting libraries are discussed, including access and ownership; computer conferences are considered; examples of electronic newsletters and electronic journals are described; and the possible future of electronic…

Discusses new ways of selecting information for digital libraries. Topics include increasing the quantity of information acquired versus item by item selection that is more costly than the value it adds; library-publisher relationships; netLibrary; electronic journals; and the SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition)…

Discusses issues related to managing electronic resources in academic libraries from a vendor's perspective. Topics include collection development policies; format and content; decisions to buy, borrow, or link to online resources; ethics and SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition); service, cost, and value; vendors'…

A group of entrepreneurs is promoting an ambitious commercial venture to sell electronic books to university libraries. The library can buy an electronic copy of the book for the print version's price; provide users access through special formatting and software, allowing users to highlight and annotate but not print; and restrict access to one…

Develops a comprehensive, unified, explanatory theory of librarianship by first making an analogy to the unification of the fundamental forces of nature. Topics include dependent and independent variables; publishing; acquisitions; classification and organization of knowledge; storage, preservation, and collection management; collections; and…

Discusses library collection evaluation and its relationship to the acquisitions budget. Topics addressed include the publishing industry; library services that are more user centered; acquisition of versus access to sources of information and knowledge; the concept of value; library accountability; objectives and setting priorities; and levels of…

Examines how electronic journals are increasing the demands on library collection development, access, and ownership of electronic information. Presents collection development scenarios that address the effects of technology on library processes, and raises some technical and social issues created by electronic information. Also discusses the…