William Y. Arms
Cornell University
wya@cs.cornell.edu
December 5, 1999
Many serials are now available in both online and print versions. Some groups of users are completely happy with the online manifestation. Under these circumstances, it is a waste for their libraries to incur the costs of acquiring and storing print copies. Yet the libraries are reluctant to rely solely on the online versions for some simple reasons that are easily fixed.
The concerns fall into three groups.
The first concern is preservation of both content and access to that content. With printed materials libraries depend on their own resources and partnerships with other libraries to preserve materials for the long tem and to make them available to patrons. For online materials they must rely on the publisher.
The second is financial. Libraries must be prepared for cost pressures. They are concerned about being caught without flexibility if their budgets are cut or if publishers raise prices dramatically.
The third concern is openness in linking. Hyperlinks are fundamental to the success of the web and reference linking can be equally important to online serials. The concern is that reference links might be implemented in a protective manner or that publishers might assert control over who links to their open access material.
Here is a checklist of requests from libraries to publishers with comments. If publishers will agree to these six points, subscribing to only the online version of a serial becomes a sensible option for libraries.
[Arrangements should be in place that are resilient to organization changes and technical disasters. One approach is to have all materials replicated by an independent third party.]
[One possibility is to provide that subscription to material for the current year should include perpetual access to those materials; another is to offer CD-ROMs. Moderate charges might be made for these services.]
[Libraries need costs saving to justify their actions to any patrons who see loss of the print version as a decrease in service.]
[The custom has developed of publishers offering favorable pricing if a library subscribes to a large bundle of serials, often the publisher's entire list. Generally, this is of benefit to patrons, libraries and publishers. However, libraries need flexibility.]
[Article-level reference linking among serials is a fine service to patrons. Several services are in production or under development. To serve libraries and their patrons well these services must interoperate.]
[Some organizations have asserted through lawsuits that they have a right to limit who links to their open-access web pages. The scholarly community needs to be able to create references to online serials and supporting materials without limit.]
William Y. Arms
Cornell University
December 5, 1999