(DOWNLOAD) "Brave New World Or Plus Ca Change?: Electronic Journals and the Academic Library." by Australian Academic & Research Libraries # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Brave New World Or Plus Ca Change?: Electronic Journals and the Academic Library.
- Author : Australian Academic & Research Libraries
- Release Date : January 01, 2006
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 204 KB
Description
In 1992, the Andrew W Mellon Foundation sponsored an exhaustive study of university libraries and scholarly communication. This study investigated the effects of the explosion in the quantity of published scholarly material and the rapid escalation of science journal prices. It also discussed the revolutionary nature of emerging electronic information technologies, and their potential to mitigate this financial crisis. Though the report was generally cautious in its predictions, its authors did speculate that 'to a considerable extent these new technologies may eventually obviate the need to rely so much on the commercial publishers for their expertise' and that it might be possible for universities to reassert their direct role in scholarly communication. (1) This qualified optimism was not untypical of the mood among commentators at the time. There was a widespread feeling that networked electronic publishing offered an opportunity to redress the perceived imbalance in the scholarly communication system, so that it was less weighted in the commercial publishers' favour. Realising such a goal, however, would depend on vigorous action by the academic and library communities. Charles Bailey listed twelve areas where action would be required. 'If we do these things', he concluded, 'network-based electronic serials may become a significant alternative source of low-cost scholarly information by the end of this decade. If not, network-based electronic serials are likely to evolve more slowly, and the serials pricing crisis is likely to continue unabated.' (2)