Yes, it's a big topic!  I have actually sort of been writing about it, too, with my perspective of scholarly communication as the backdrop.  Actually, I teach that way, too--scholarly communication through the ages.  I even once wrote a book for Haworth Press, but that's a different story....
It all came out of the Faxon bankruptcy (I did a NASIG presentation, too) and how financial models were changing--anyone remember that?  Anyone still trying to forget that?  Anyway, to me, it goes back to early journals in the 17th century developing to answer a need to communicate among scholars, and how that became a commercial enterprise or cash cow in many cases.  Then, as Barbara says, came the 30-year "serials crisis"!  The drama!  The excitement about Open Access as a solution to the problem! 
Interesting times.  The saga continues.

Hey, Barbara and others, I have an idea--maybe the Journal of Creative Library Practice would like to explore a crowd-sourced book on this, as in their mission: "The ability to publish nimbly and be accessible to all is a fundamental part of what we’re trying to do. We also want to explore pre- and post-publication peer review and see how reader and site-member comments will contribute to the publication. Finally, we hope to bridge the formal (and too often stuffy) discourse found in the peer-reviewed literature...." (http://creativelibrarypractice.org/2013/01/02/welcome-to-the-journal/)  I'm not sure how it would work, but would be fun to explore ideas, plus maybe have best practices in one place to look. 
What do you all think?

Sue



Sue


Sue Wiegand
Periodicals Librarian
123 Cushwa-Leighton Library
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
574.284.4789


On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 5:06 PM, Barbara Pope <bpope@pittstate.edu> wrote:
I have been wanting to do some research about library budgets, serials, and the increasing costs of serials since the 1980s.  Calculating cost per use could be part of that.  This actually sounds like it could be a topic worthy of something bigger than an article, but I won't scare myself by saying "book."  I have trouble with the idea that I could write a whole book.

Sincerely,

Barbara M. Pope, MALS

Periodicals/Reference Library

Pittsburg State University

1701 S. Broadway

Pittsburg KS  66762

bpope@pittstate.edu


From: "Susan Wiegand" <swiegand@SAINTMARYS.EDU>
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Sent: Wednesday, October 2, 2013 1:28:17 PM
Subject: Re: [SERIALST] free access to journal article on cost per download of online journals


Good idea to share thoughts on this. I liked this article--good discussion of strengths and weaknesses as a starting point for a productive conversation on a timely issue.  I actually liked it enough that I used it (among others), to prepare for an ACRL roundtable I led last April, on Elusive Usage Stats, with 2 other librarians here (we did a LibGuide with a bibliography, and a handout).  I pretty much agree with Diane about some of the additional complicating factors.  Another consideration I've brought up here is the issue of access--when we lose access (for whatever reason--could be the ISSN and link resolver or other complications), the failures to connect may skew usage results.  We don't have Rapid ILL, but I've set up doc delivery with GIN and FIZ AutoDoc as alternatives to high-priced journal subscriptions on a very limited basis, when usage seems low--we're small, and it seems to work well; even though as a purchase it bypasses Fair Use, at least it's access.  Nuance is good! 

Sue


Sue Wiegand
Periodicals Librarian
123 Cushwa-Leighton Library
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
574.284.4789


On Wed, Oct 2, 2013 at 1:42 PM, Diane Westerfield <Diane.Westerfield@coloradocollege.edu> wrote:

I read the article as well and was hoping we could kick this around on the list.  The article has some great points. I do detect a subtle cautionary tale about canceling journals or Big Deals based on naïve interpretations of cost-per-use calculations. Cui bono?

 

Here’s what I pulled out of the article:

 

·        Rigid standards of cost-per-use: applied across the board without nuance, are not useful. Agreed.

·        HTML/PDF Shenanigans: it’s interesting to learn that some publisher platforms will automatically land patrons on an HTML article, which will count as a “hit” in the JR1 download statistics, and then register another hit if the patron chooses to download the PDF. (there’s no way to get to the PDF without routing through the HTML first).

·        Readers in different subject areas exhibit different behavior: STM readers tend to download more articles,  and read more quickly (some articles may be skimmed over); humanities/social sciences readers tend to download fewer articles and read more slowly. Is your library prepared to analyze journal usage by subject area?

 

·        Hybrid journals: if a subscription journal has some open access articles, COUNTER reports won’t take the open access part into account. Also your patrons may not route through the link resolver or proxy server to hit the open access and it may not register as a JR1 article download at all.

 

·        Group titles: yes, it’s important to consider whether cutting a small package to get rid of underused titles will also eliminate the one popular title.

·        Some other phenomena that complicate usage:

o   New journals have less content to draw from, so usage statistics should be handled carefully there

o   Statistical fluctuations – the impact of individual behavior on small samples. Duly noted.

o   Title changes. ‘nuff said.

o   Journal transfers interfering with access

o   Journals like Nature have a lot of short articles and reviews, and also invite reading from cover-to-cover. Are the short articles and reviews as valuable as longer, more substantial articles?

o   Backfile vs frontfile content

o   Currency fluctuation and ongoing price adjustments (not a big deal for my library, your mileage may vary).

·        Aggregator platforms: do you try to combine statistics from a publisher and from an aggregator for the same journal? I wouldn’t combine them but it would be useful to compare them. As the author points out, coverage often varies between publisher and aggregator platforms for the same titles.

·        “Knowing” journals: librarians may have to become acquainted with the more popular and important journals to their faculty in order to know what is valued.

·        Nothing’s perfect: matter how hard you try to gather and weigh usage data correctly, there is always going to be some angst and mistakes made when cancelling journals.

Where I disagree with the author is the notion of correcting for usage spikes (legitimate usage). It doesn’t make a difference to me whether a journal is used throughout the year or heavily in a few weeks (perhaps used by a class for an assignment), the total usage is what makes it valuable. In either case it stands a chance of being used at similar rates again the next year. If anyone has an opposite view on this, please jump in and discuss.

 

I also think the author relies too heavily on ISSN as the magic matching device for journals. There are too many journals without ISSNs out there, and too many erroneous ISSNs floating around in various systems.

 

I don’t think the author takes document delivery that much into consideration. We have the Rapid ILL system at my institution and many articles are available within 24-48 hours (on business days) after request.  Supply and demand in our ILL department is somewhat elastic but balanced by the overall system.

 

I’d love to hear what others think about this article.

 

Diane Westerfield, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian

Tutt Library, Colorado College

diane.westerfield@coloradocollege.edu

(719) 389-6661

(719) 389-6082 (fax)

 

 

 

From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@list.uvm.edu] On Behalf Of Barbara Pope
Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2013 8:57 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] free access to journal article on cost per download of online journals

 

Hi, everyone.  I just got an email from Taylor and Francis about a free journal article on cost per download of online journals.  This is definitely a hot topic here.  I just got done with my journals renewal and figured out all of my cost per use numbers myself.

 

 

Sincerely,

 

Barbara M. Pope, MALS

Periodicals/Reference Library

Pittsburg State University

1701 S. Broadway

Pittsburg KS  66762

 

 

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