[Original posting on this topic appears below; the responses follow it.
From: Mary Summerfield <msummerfield_at_press.uchicago.edu>
Scholarly disciplines continue to evolve and, as they do, societies and
institutes spring up or mature to the state that they would like to sponsor
a journal that would serve the discipline better than existing journals.
As we think about the feasibility of launching new journals, not-for-profit
presses must project how quickly libraries will choose to subscribe to
these journals and how many will do so and at what prices. Our financial
reserves are small and we cannot afford to launch a new journal unless we
can expect it to recover its initial and ongoing costs in a relatively
short period.
Could collection development managers tell us how you think about the
decision-making on subscribing to new journals?
What are the factors that determine whether you will subscribe to a new
journal and how soon you will do so?
What characteristics would lead you to subscribe at launch?
How do you think about an online only journal versus one that is available
in both print and online formats?
Thanks for your guidance on this important matter.
Mary Summerfield
Director, Business Development
Journals Division
University of Chicago Press
1427 East 60th Street
Chicago, IL 60637
Tel: 773.702.2383
Fax: 773.702.0694
E-mail: <mailto:msummerfield_at_press.uchicago.edu>msummerfield_at_press.uchicago.edu
Net: <http://www.journals.uchicago.edu>www.journals.uchicago.edu
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(1) From: Jenica Rogers-Urbanek <rogersjp_at_potsdam.edu>
> What are the factors that determine whether you will subscribe to a new
> journal and how soon you will do so?
Factors we consider are, first, what is our curricular need for the
title? Are our students likely to need and want this specific content? If
so, is it written at a level that our undergraduates in that particular
program will be able to effectively process? How does the content compare
with the other journals we already purchase in the same subject area? Does
it duplicate, complement, or add to our current content?
Second, where is the journal indexed? We have no use for publications that
are not indexed by our major databases, as they will NOT be used if they
are not in at least one of our major I&A products.
Third, what is the cost, and the frequency of publication? Does the
journal compare favorably with other publications in the field? Does the
curricular value outweigh any hesitations about price and frequency?
Fourth, is there online access? Is the online access easily open-URL
compliant? Will it require an individual sign-up with a publisher's online
site? Is it included with the print subscription? Is it an
up-charge? How much up-charge? Are we required to essentially pay twice
for print and online? How much, considering those facts, is the journal
worth to us? (Hint: If we're required to pay extra for online content,
endure a lengthy and complicated registration process for access to it, and
then find out that the open-URL compliance is sketchy at best... the
journal gets canceled, or is not purchased at all.)
All of that is assuming that the content is not in one of our major
aggregators with a one year or less embargo. If it is in an aggregator, we
are unlikely to purchase it without a clear need for print copies of the title.
> What characteristics would lead you to subscribe at launch?
The launch would need to happen simultaneously with our annual assessment
of proposed new subscriptions -- we add titles once per year, in November,
after we've evaluated the price increases of existing titles and
established our available funds for new titles. The time frame of your
launch, I'm sorry to say, has absolutely nothing to do with the time frames
and budgeting deadlines of my work.
> How do you think about an online only journal versus one that is
> available in both print and online formats?
We evaluate the online vs print subscription question based on the need for
an item in print. Our users clearly favor online content for research
work, but some journals lend themselves to a browsing collection, and we
purchase print subscriptions for that reason. If the journal is a logical
part of a scholarly browsing/reading collection, likely to be picked up and
read by the casual disciplinary user, then we would want print. Otherwise,
we want online content, either included with the print or on its own.
Jenica P. Rogers-Urbanek
Collection Development Coordinator and Technical Services Librarian
College Libraries, SUNY Potsdam
44 Pierrepont Avenue, Potsdam, NY 13676
(315) 267-3328, (315) 267-2744 (fax)
http://www2.potsdam.edu/rogersjp
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(2) From: "Richards, Diane P" <diane.richards_at_mnsu.edu>
Subject: RE: CDL-Decision-making on Subscribing to New Journals
What are the factors that determine whether you will subscribe to a new
journal and how soon you will do so?
1) faculty interest
2) cost
3) indexing in databases that we have
4) breadth of coverage, i. e., the more departments that might be
interested in it the greater our interest in subscribing
5) format. In this library, online journals have a higher priority
than print journals.
What characteristics would lead you to subscribe at launch?
The big block to subscribing at launch is that both librarians and faculty
want to see some actual issues of a journal. New product hype is greeted
with a "show me" attitude. Also, indexes generally will not pick up a
journal until it has some kind of a track record. That means that there is
a big risk in subscribing to the initial launch of a journal.
Diane Richards
Collection Development Librarian
Memorial Library ML3097
P. O. Box 8419
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Mankato, MN 56002-8419
e-mail: diane.richards_at_mnsu.edu
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(3) From: Vince Jenkins <vjenkins_at_education.wisc.edu>
Subject: Re: CDL-Decision-making on Subscribing to New Journals
Thanks for your questions about launching new journals.
Our decision to subscribe to a journal, and especially a new one with no
track record yet for usefulness to our students and faculty, for
sustainability, or for cost, comes down principally to money. We're an
education library supporting mostly undergraduate study, and our
subscriptions are relatively inexpensive compared to those in the
sciences. But, like most academic libraries, we have to be selective about
adding journal subscriptions.
We are happy to sign up for electronic journals with no print version if
they are:
1. affordable (e.g., the Un. of Chicago journals we take now are under $200
a year)
2. accessible without passwords by unlimited authorized users (i.e.
on-campus or proxy-authorized off-campus)
3. peer-reviewed
4. published on a predictable, dependable schedule
5. technically hassle-free
We often honor faculty requests for new subscriptions if cost is within our
norms, so of course, faculty access and review of new titles can help
determine whether we adapt at launch without knowing any of the items above.
Vince Jenkins
<mailto:vjenkins_at_education.wisc.edu>vjenkins_at_education.wisc.edu
Technical Services Librarian
Center for Instructional Materials & Computing
University of Wisconsin-Madison
608-262-7301
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From: hammett <hammett_at_sonoma.edu>
See answers below:
>Scholarly disciplines continue to evolve and, as they do, societies and
>institutes spring up or mature to the state that they would like to
>sponsor a journal that would serve the discipline better than existing
>journals.
>
>As we think about the feasibility of launching new journals,
>not-for-profit presses must project how quickly libraries will choose to
>subscribe to these journals and how many will do so and at what
>prices. Our financial reserves are small and we cannot afford to launch a
>new journal unless we can expect it to recover its initial and ongoing
>costs in a relatively short period.
>
>Could collection development managers tell us how you think about the
>decision-making on subscribing to new journals?
In general we are not adding individual subscriptions. Our focus instead
has been on adding reasonably priced academic journal packages to fill in
key disciplines. We are now at the point where we may rely on ILL for any
additional access. We have shifted personnel away from print journal
management to online management. On the rare occasions when we do add an
individual title, it is on an add-one, drop-one basis, i.e. the department
has to decide which journal they will drop in order to add a new one.
>What are the factors that determine whether you will subscribe to a new
>journal and how soon you will do so?
online access, fit with the curriculum, cost, platform & interface,
accessibility (is it 508-compliant), open access, availability of
consortium pricing, standards-compliant, indexing, statistics, interest
from faculty, etc.
>What characteristics would lead you to subscribe at launch?
If the University President were Editor-in-Chief ;-). In other words,
highly unlikely.
>How do you think about an online only journal versus one that is available
>in both print and online formats?
We subscribe to online-only journals except for rare occasions when the
online is not equivalent to the print or the title has an embargo period
online. We also have a very small print browsing collection. We find our
students much prefer (and demand) online access.
Academic library collection budgets (at least in our 23 campus system) are
falling rapidly. In our library the only way we add any new titles is to
carefully analyze the cost structure, the value we think it might bring to
supporting our curriculum, the personnel costs involved in managing an
individual subscription, and what would have to be cut in order to
subscribe. That analysis is bit easier when it is part of a journal
package that is available with excellent consortium pricing.
I would think it's a very tough time to start a new academic journal and
would recommend societies look to open access publishing.
Hope this is helpful.
Paula Hammett
Collection Development Coordinator & Web Coordinator
University Library, Sonoma State University
1801 E. Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park, CA 94928
707-664-3912, 707-664-2090 (fax)
<mailto:hammett_at_sonoma.edu>hammett_at_sonoma.edu
Received on Fri Apr 13 2007 - 01:03:32 EDT