Well.......

For me, the bottom line on what makes holdings "current" has nothing to do with the format they are in.  It has to do with whether or not:

1.)  We are actively getting (that is, predictably getting - which some Emerald, some JSTOR, some ScienceDirect, etc. titles are), and which we can feel somewhat "guaranteed" will be accessible as soon as publishers release them.

2.)  To me, this completely disallows inclusion for any title in any aggregator database, like InfoTrac, LISA, ABI, whatever.

I'm a former vendor myself, and I know how these aggregators work.  There is absolutely no predictable guarantee what journals are to be covered in these databases, and there is no licensing or contractual expectation that the titles you see one year will be the same ones you see the next year.  This makes sense, BTW, because you don't "buy journals" when you buy databases; you buy "databases."   Hence....

3.)  As I teach my library science students, a "current journal" is something you have some true expectation will always be there as long as you are spending money for it; and since some database vendors are actually selling you "their" publications only (Emerald, etc.) I will always count them as current, assuming they are not legacy-only titles.

Yes, as someone else said, clear as mud.

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David Jank, M.S., M.S.L.I.S.
Assistant Professor
Dowling College Library
Racanelli Learning Resources Center
150 Idle Hour Blvd.- Room RC 207-B
Oakdale, Long Island
New York    11769-1999
Phone:   (631) 244-3081
Fax:     (631) 244-3374
E-mail:  jankd@dowling.edu
http://www.dowling.edu
http://library.dowling.edu

"There is no man who can grapple with the librarians of today."
---Lord Rosebery of Glasgow, 1877

"Keep passing the open windows."
---John Irving
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