Periodicals Price Survey 2008

Library Journal recently published its annual analysis of periodical prices: Periodicals Price Survey 2008: Embracing Openness. The study provides an excellent overview of the developments (there were many!) in the Open Access arena over the past year.

The study reveals that periodical prices over the past year have continued their inexorable increase, the rate of increase in the Humanities being particularly striking.

Excerpt:

The marked changes brought on by the advance of open access has so far had little effect on the price of subscribed journals, the notable exception being some 3300 peer-reviewed journals listed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), all of which are free. Prices of subscription-based journals increased nine to ten percent in 2008, driven by an extremely weak dollar. Non-U.S. titles in the humanities and social sciences increased even more (11 percent), because publishers in these disciplines tend to price in native currencies, driving U.S. prices up when those currencies are converted to dollars. The sciences, on the other hand, are dominated by large European publishers that price in U.S. dollars, reducing the volatility of prices and keeping price increases in foreign scientific journals under nine percent. Given the continuing slide of the dollar, expect increases in 2009 to approach ten percent overall.

OA Mandate at Two UK Universities

The University of Stirling has become the first academic institution in the UK to oblige staff to make all their published research available online. See the 9 April, 2008 press release. At about the same time, the University of Southampton announced a similar University-wide Open Access mandate. Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science was the first (2001) in the world to adopt a self-archiving mandate. This policy has now been applied to the whole university.

For a complete list of OA policies, funder and institutional, worldwide see: http://www.eprints.org/openaccess/policysignup/

The Research Library in the Information Age

Recently, Professor Robert Darnton spoke about The Research Library in the Information Age at a meeting of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in Cambridge, MA. Professor Bernard Bailyn introduced him. Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor Robert Darnton is Director of the Harvard University Library and Bernard Bailyn is Adams University Professor, emeritus, Harvard University. Audio downloads of both speeches are available.

The Audacity of SCOAP3

The Association of Research Libraries today (April 8th, 2008) posted The Audacity of SCOAP3, an essay by Ivy Anderson, Director of Collections, California Digital Library. The essay describes the major issues and arguments behind SCOAP3 (Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics), the new CERN scholar-led initiative to promote open access for the major journals in the field. SCOAP3 calls libraries and funding agencies into international partnership to reduce publishing fees, while still providing the necessary monetary support for the peer review and publishing process. The American Physical Society and the IEEE, two of the major society publishers in the field, are currently engaged in discussions with SCOAP3.

Libraries as Publishers

BC Libraries entered the publishing sphere a couple of years ago when it began to co-publish open access refereed e-journals. The Libraries now co-publish four journals: Cities and the Environment (CATE); Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment; Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations; TEACHING Exceptional Children / TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus. All are accessible from eScholarship@BC.

BC Libraries are not unusual in its publishing endeavors. The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has just published the results of a study of publishing services provided by ARL member libraries. From the 2 April, 2008 press release:

The study verified that research libraries are rapidly developing publishing services. By late 2007, 44% of the 80 responding ARL member libraries reported they were delivering publishing services and another 21% were in the process of planning publishing service development. Only 36% of responding institutions were not active in this arena.

Key findings of the study include:

• Publishing services are rapidly becoming a norm for research libraries, particularly journal publishing services.
• Service development is being driven by campus demand, largely from authors and editors.
• Libraries are addressing gaps in traditional publishing systems, not replicating traditional publishing.
• Substantial investment in open source applications such as Open Journal Systems, Open Conference Systems, D-Pubs, and DSpace is facilitating service development.
• The numbers of titles research libraries are publishing represent a very thin slice of the scholarly publishing pie; yet, collectively research libraries are beginning to produce a substantial body of content.
• Library publishing services are part of a range of new kinds of services libraries have developed or are developing, such as repository and digitization services.
• Library publication services are developed in ways that are consonant with research library service culture, including close consultation with researchers and frequent use of partnerships.
• The use of various forms of revenue generation is common for publishing services, but core support comes from library resources and in some cases new campus funding.

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The full report many be downloaded from the ARL Web site http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/reports/.

SPARC Open Access Newsletter, April 2008

Peter Suber has posted the April issue of his SPARC Open Access Newsletter. This issue "brings together the many online guidelines and resources for implementing the new NIH policy, and takes a close look at the principles and policy options for universities considering an OA policy."

Section 108 Study Group Issues Report - The Library Today (Library of Congress)

Section 108 Study Group Issues Report - The Library Today (Library of Congress):

March 31, 2008
Study Group Issues Report Recommending Changes in Copyright Law to Reflect Digital Technologies
Section 108 Study Group Looks at Exceptions to Law for Libraries and Archives

"After nearly three years of intensive work, the independent Section 108 Study Group has issued its report and recommendations on exceptions to copyright law to address how libraries, archives and museums deal with copyrighted materials in fulfilling their missions in the digital environment. The report is available at www.section108.gov. Section 108 is the section of the Copyright Act that provides limited exceptions for libraries and archives so that they may make copies to replace copyrighted works in their collections when necessary, preserve them for the long term and make them available to users."