ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 6 3 2 /C&RL News Selecting electronic journals By H elen M. G rochm al Tips fo r choosingfull-text/ full-image products T he benefits of index sources offering full-text journal coverage seem to be just what libraries are waiting for— many journals at the touch o f a keyboard; cost savings if libraries cancel paper journals available full text or full image on a particular system; direct access from index entry to text without dealing with jour­ nals that are out to the bindery, have missing pages, or are shelved differently from the entry in the index source. One may choose a full- text source for many reasons, but practical con­ siderations need to be taken into account when choosing a product and especially before re­ placing paper journals with current products— whether provided to the library on magnetic tape, CD, or off-site. W h a t d o the p ro d u cts cu rre n tly o ffe r? Companies are offering journal titles tied to their indexing/abstracting products. Many titles from the indexed entries may be accessed either full text (usually the article is typed by the com­ pany) or full image (the article is scanned or reproduced as published). Some of the most common database offerings for academic librar­ ies are UMI’s ProQuest (full image), Informa­ tion A ccess’s InfoTrac-Expanded Academic ASAP (full text), and EBSCO’s MasterFILE (full text). Library access may be offered on mag netic tape or CD or both, depending on the product. Full-text storage takes up much less space than full-image and influences the way the information is accessed by libraries, how­ ever, much information is not reproduced on the full-text source. These companies also of­ fer or are planning to offer off-site access to their products. Off-site access is the delivery method that allows libraries access to the prod­ uct while the databases are located and main­ tained at a remote site instead o f at the library. That way individual libraries will not have to deal with CDs or magnetic tape that take up much local computer data storage space and may be awkward to handle. The way the infor­ mation is available is changing also; for ex­ ample, InfoTrac will offer full-image delivery on a selected number o f titles on its off-site product while offering full-text coverage on the local product. The products and their coverage are changing rapidly so all details o f individual products and licensing agreements are not listed here. Companies should be contacted individu­ ally for current practices, hardware require­ ments, and lists o f different subject databases within their systems. However, general descrip­ tions and factors to look for are discussed so potential new customers will know what to ask when considering a system. W h a t is left o u t? Most o f the companies list information not in­ cluded in their full-text products that is included in the paper journal. Short articles, letters, for­ mulas, pictures, illustrations, book reviews, and miscellaneous types o f information are often not part o f the product. Cover-to-cover does not always mean what one would want. Infor­ mation is not always arranged as the author or publisher has published it. Sometimes poetry is typed without any attention to the original spacing and articles are printed without pagi­ nation. Text in art periodicals may refer to il­ lustrations not reproduced. Tabular data is often not given. (O ne source— InfoTrac-CD version— gives a letter grade instead o f giving Helen M. Grochmal is serials librarian at California University o f Pennsylvania; e-mail: grochmal@cup.edu mailto:grochmal@cup.edu October 1 9 9 5 /6 3 3 the book review from some journals.) Even titles available in full image may leave out parts of individual journals, although indexed articles are scanned in their complete form. A com ­ pany may have the rights to reproduce only parts o f some titles, leaving out book reviews, for example. Some information the library ex­ pects to receive may be left out o f a system by becoming unavailable or being delayed. Any o f the companies may lose the right from a publisher to reproduce a journal, so libraries would have to be prepared for changes out of their control. The companies may also be de­ layed by contract from including the current issue o f a journal in their systems. It should be pointed out that some of these systems drop indexing and full-text journals after a certain time period and this data must be purchased separately. One system routinely drops index­ ing and journal coverage o f titles after three years. Although the information is available at an extra charge, it may be inconvenient to ac­ cess since it is a separate database. W h a t sy ste m s h o u ld a lib r a r y c h o o s e ? The system a library chooses would depend on its needs and budget. The CD full-image databases take up a lot o f storage space and a number o f CDs must be accommodated. The full-text databases take up less space but much information is lost. Choice would depend on the library’s budget, computer capabilities, its reasons for choosing one o f these systems, and the list o f titles it wishes indexed. Full image may require more steps to handle and be more expensive but may be necessary if the library’s purpose in choosing a system is to cancel low- use paper journals available full image on the indexing source. If a library is choosing a sys­ tem for its indexing and finds the journal avail­ ability to be an adjunct to its collection and not a reason to change its paper holdings, full text might be acceptable, especially if the price is right. After determining the reasons for choos­ ing a system and comparing the systems to each other, anyone interested in purchasing a prod­ uct o f this sort should ask all o f the relevant questions of the supplier. The customer should then sit down with the current paper copies of journals and compare the copies page by page with the full-image and/or full-text journals to see exactly what is available on the product and see when the latest copies are placed on the system. (O ne may also check to see how One problem librarians m ay have to explain about full-text access is that the journals are not exactly reproduced in m any cases. well these new products are indexing/abstract ing the original source while one checks the full-text/full-image quality.) Companies frequently offer their systems on a free trial basis. A trial period as it would actu­ ally be used might be worth investigating. Call the customer relations department o f the sys­ tem to see how it maintains support. S h o u ld lib ra rie s can cel p a p e r titles? Electronic journals are relatively new and chang­ ing often. It would be best if a library could wait to see what is happening with them be­ fore cancelling titles. If budget constraints re­ quire cancellation o f paper journals and the electronic system is taken into consideration in the choice o f which paper titles to cancel, titles to be considered may be: 1) low-use titles, especially if the title is avail­ able full image and not full text; 2) titles that don’t contain illustrations and other types o f information that the chosen sys­ tem does not supply. For example, see if the system includes the short but very important section on queries before cancelling the liter­ ary journal Notes a n d Q ueries; 3) titles with back issues easily available in case the title is dropped from the system; 4) tides that are not usually read cover-to- cover by the academic community for profes­ sional or recreational reasons. W h a t a r e fa c u lty c o n c e rn s? The journal is a means o f formal communica­ tion from one scholar to another. Authors care­ fully proofread each word before publication and editors recheck copy. The main concern o f faculty is that the new product will repro­ duce the original source to a sufficient degree and in a timely enough manner to support re­ search. One problem librarians may have to explain about full-text access is that the jour­ nals are not exactly reproduced in many cases. Can the provider be trusted to type the infor- (Electronic journals cont. on p ag e 654) October 1 9 9 5 /6 3 5 654/C&RL News Women’s Studies Section. Vice-Chair/Chair- Elect: Bonnie J. Cox, 128 Owsley Ave., Lexing­ ton, KY 40502-1526; e-mail: klilll@ u kcc.u ky. edu. ACRL divisional committee appointments ACRL has 27 standing committees to which ap­ pointments may be made. A list appears on the volunteer form at the end o f this article. You will find the committees listed with a descrip­ tion o f their charges in the ALA Handbook o f Organization. Appointments to ACRL standing committees are made in the spring for terms beginning im­ mediately after the ALA Annual Conference. The Appointments and Nominations Committee rec­ ommends to the president-elect o f ACRL the names o f members w ho might fill the vacan­ cies. The president-elect makes the final ap­ pointments. If you are interested in being con­ sid ered fo r an appoin tm en t to an ACRL committee, you should com plete the ACRL Committee Volunteer Form included with this article and send it to Betsy Baker at the address given on the form before December 15, 1995. Editorial boards ACRL has editorial boards for these six publi cations: Choice, College & Research Libraries; College & Research Libraries News; N ew Publi­ cations; Publications in Librarianship, and Rare Books & Manuscripts Librarianship. A p p oin tm en ts to ed itoria l boards are made at the Midwinter Meeting for terms that begin immediately after the ALA Annual Con­ ference. The editors recommend the name o f a person to fill the vacancy. The Publica­ tions Committee must approve the recom ­ mendation, and the president o f ACRL makes the appointment. If you would like to be considered for ap­ pointment to an editorial board, contact the editor o f the editorial board. Choice editor: Irving Rockwood, Choice, 100 R iverview Center, M iddletow n, CT 06457; e-mail: irv_rockwood@delphi.com. College & Research Libraries editor-desig nate: Donald E. Riggs, University o f Michigan, 818 Hatcher Graduate Library, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1205; e-mail: driggs@umich.edu College & Research Libraries News editor: Mary Ellen Davis, C&RL News, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795; e-mail: mary.ellen.davis@ala.org. New publications editor: Hugh Thompson, ACRL/ALA, 50 E. H uron St., Chicago, IL 60611-2795; e-mail: hugh.thompson@ala.org. Publications in Librarianship editor: Ste­ phen E. W iberley Jr., University o f Illinois at Chicago University Library, P.O. Box 8198, Chicago, IL 60680-8198; e-mail: u30959@ uicvm.uic.edu. Rare Books & Manuscripts Librarianship editor: Sidney E. Berger, University o f Cali­ fornia, University Library, P.O. Box 5900, Riv­ erside, CA 92517-5900; e-mail: sp colseb@ ucrvms.bitnet. (Electronic journals cont.from page 633) mation correctly if the article is not full image? Citing from an electronic source is another ques­ tion faculty may raise. Librarians may show new ways to cite articles like this from style manu­ als. However, it is difficult to cite work that has no pagination and is arranged differently from the paper copy or the electronic arrangement the publisher may have. Faculty may be con­ cerned not about the format o f the journal (af­ ter all, electronic journals are the way o f the future) but the authority o f the source if the system has rearranged it on the full-text data­ bases. Conclusion Librarians need to discuss the way electronic journals are being introduced into academic li­ braries and influence the w ay the products are being developed. Should accuracy o f content take second place to computer storage prob­ lems? Is an article whose main content revolves around an illustration worthless if the illustra­ tion is left out? For academic librarians, repro­ duction o f an author’s exact content and accu­ rate citation are too important to relegate to nonpriority status. Scholarship depends on these factors. Until the day comes when any article is available on demand the way it was originally produced, academic librarians need to empha­ size the needs o f research and scholars. It is too early to see which products are going to be preferred and what innovations will take place in document delivery. The world o f serials is being revolutionized and many improvements are in store. The problems o f missing informa­ tion are already being addressed by providers and this trend should be encouraged. Great care must be taken that librarians influence the elec­ tronic journal industry for the better. ■ mailto:klilll@ukcc.uky mailto:irv_rockwood@delphi.com mailto:driggs@umich.edu mailto:mary.ellen.davis@ala.org mailto:hugh.thompson@ala.org