Again, hello to the list,

I'd like to respond to Mitch's reply to my original query on surveys done
regarding faculty use of ejournals.  I'm sorry, Mitch, but I think you
missed my point.  I am not confused by format--I'm fascinated by it. My
intention in conducting such a survey is not to make collection
development decisions (although information gathered in the process may
certainly help our Collection Development Dept. to do so), but to explore
two central questions:

1) the impact that electronic communication and publication is having on
the way scholarship is being done, including the changes taking place in
learning behaviors, and

2)the perception and expectations that faculty members have about what
this "new" medium can do for them in terms of information provision and
exchange.

I've attended workshops and read numerous articles and papers on this
subject and have seen little discussion of what the ramifications of the
shift to electronic delivery of information might have on research
methods and, perhaps more interesting, research outcomes.  Issues like
loss of context when print issues are reformatted into full-text
selections, rapid turn-around time between publication and response from
the scholarly community to that publication, and the growing gaps between
the technologically savvy members on campus and the members who still
long for the card catalogs, are what intrigue me here.  The theoretical
behind the practical, if you will.

If anyone has similar interests in exploring these topics, I'd be very
interested in hearing from you.  Please feel free to address me directly.

Thanks,

Claire Dygert
Head, Serials Department
American University Library
cdygert@american.edu

-----------------------
Mitch Turitz wrote:
>
> Claire:
>   Don't let the format of the material confuse you.  What you want to do is
> first find out what the faculty NEED, in terms of CONTENT.  The carrier (is
> it web-based or paper or CD-ROM?) is secondary.
>
>   It is my opinion that the reason faculty think that "electronic serials"
> are cool is so that they can do their research from home or their office
> without having to go to the library.  YOU have to show them what's out
> there.
>
>   In my opinion:  the subject specialists (i.e. Collection Development)
> should determine which electronic resources are appropriate for which
> subject area.  This should not be all left up to the Electronic Resources
> Librarian.  You will be busy enough with trying to get a CD-ROM network up
> and running, maintaining changes in the number of CD-ROMs you received,
> checking to see if an electronic subscription service can handle I.P.
> checking, answering questions like how to download to disk or how to print
> from a network, etc.
>
> -- Mitch
>   _^_                                                 _^_
> ( ___ )-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-( ___ )
>  |   |                                               |   |
>  |   |     Mitch Turitz, Serials Librarian           |   |
>  |   |     San Francisco State University Library    |   |
>  |   |     Internet: turitz@sfsu.edu                 |   |
>  |   |                                               |   |
> ( ___ )-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-==-( ___ )
>    V                                                   V
>        Rule #1: Don't sweat the small stuff.
>        Rule #2: It's ALL small stuff.
> --------------------------------
> "Claire T. Dygert" <cdygert@AMERICAN.EDU> wrote:
>
> Hello to the list,
>
> I've recently been hired as the Serials/Electronic Resources Librarian at
> American University.  Part of my mission here is to incorporate electronic
> serials into our print serials collection.  My understanding is (excuse
> me--I've only been here a week and a half!) is that we have many members
> of the teaching faculty who are eager to have access to online serials.  I
> am very interested in doing a survey of the faculty to ascertain such
> things as follows below, and I'm wondering if anyone out there has
> conducted such a survey.  I'd like to know:
>
> 1)How they faculty members defining electronic journals?  Are they
> including online full-text selections of print journals?  Journals
> published online only? Newsgroups, listservs, computer conferences?
>
> 2)What benefits do they perceive the availability of electronic journals
> will afford them, besides ease of possible desk-top access?
>
> 3)How many faculty on campus are participating in scholarly activities on
> the internet?  Have any of them published in electronic journals?  Do they
> plan too?
>
> 4)What electronic resources are they currently utilizing, and how
> important do they see them to their scholarly activities?  If these
> resources were available through the library would they encourage their
> students to access them as relevant to course content?
>
> I could continue, but I think this gives the list a good idea of what kind
> of information I'm seeking.  I'm very interested in what others have done
> in gathering this information.  (I guess I should say that my strong
> interest is in how new, online-only, peer-reviwed publications are
> impacting the way scholarship is being done...  The list of these titles
> seems to be growing exponentially.)
>
> In advance, thanks.
>
> Claire Dygert
> Head, Serials Department
> American University Library
> cdygert@american.edu