It is expected that with respect to scholarly communication electronic publications will take over the role of printed publications. Full text electronic journals and electronic pre-print services have the advantage that they speed up the communication process. Commercial publishers as well as libraries are well aware of that. Libraries are afraid that they will be kicked out of the information chain by other players in the field. Then with the exponential growth of scientific publications and with the recent mergers of academic publishers - like that of Reed-Elsevier and Kluwer - the serials pricing crisis will aggravate. Also publishers direct their attention more and more on the end-user.
Seeking for a new strategic position Tilburg University Library posed itself questions like: Are electronic journals a solution to the serials pricing crisis? Will the role of the library erode in the era of information and communication technology? It was analyzed that scholars at universities hand over the copyright on their publications for free to publishers and that libraries i.e. the scientific community must buy the information back for big money. Knowing that publishers defend their interests vehemently it was clear that libraries couldn't stay passive. The answer must be 'change the chain'.
Several models or scenarios for the future of scholarly communication
systems and the position of the library could be developed. Scholars
must take the lead again by publishing their work directly on
the web, while libraries make in their databases references to
these publications. The library functions in this respect as a
gateway to information. Libraries know their primary users best.
By selecting on usefulness and quality and by adding value to
the information the crisis can be melted down in opportunities
for action.
At Tilburg University one of the central concepts is that of the
integrated desktop. Every scholar has a network-PC connected to
the Internet. For students the library houses 450 integrated desktops
and on campus there are some 350 more of them. Together with the
computer center the library developed a new WWW-interface for
most of its databases. The idea is that the user from its own
workplace can select and search the right database(s). After a
search the user can from the bibliographic descriptions click
right to the full text electronic document. If a journal article
is only available in print form the academic user can order a
photocopy right from the system.
Several electronic publishing initiatives are under way at Tilburg University:
Drs. Jos A.M. Kuijlen
User support librarian
Tilburg University
Nl-PO Box 90153
J.A.M.Kuijlen@kub.nl
| Nordisk konferanse om elektronisk publisering | Programme in English |