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NEWS

LIBRARY NEWS, December 2000

LIBRARY NEWS, number 11, December 2000. An electronic newsletter published by The University of Texas at Austin General Libraries to share news about library collections and services.

THIS ISSUE: e-journals

More E-journals
Library Acquisitions Budget
Duplicate Journal Cancellations
Academic Library Collection Enhancement Program
UT a Charter Member of Global Digital Reference Service
Paul Cret Library
Web Characterization Study
Amount of Information in the World
How do I Know When a New issue of an E-journal has been Published?
Print vs. Digital Library Collections
Mail Renewal Discontinued
Conclusions from a Recent Digital Library Conference
Recently added Web resources

MORE E-JOURNALS: 
The library continues to increase its e-journal subscriptions <http://www.lib.utexas.edu/journals/> which now number 3500. The majority of these e-journals are licensed through specially negotiated contracts between the publisher and the libraries of all fifteen UT System component institutions. The UT libraries are able to share both the cost as well as access to each other's journal subscriptions.

Because of the strong negotiating position all fifteen schools are able to bring to bear, the library is frequently able to gain access to a publisher's complete roster of journal titles (including currently unsubscribed titles at no additional cost) as well as negotiating favorable financial terms. These consortium-based e-journal "deals" begin when the fifteen component institutions agree on quality scholarly resources that would be of permanent value on each of the campuses. Negotiations, which take one to two years, then follow.These efforts are managed by the UT System Digital Library http://www.lib.utsystem.edu/ which is coordinated by librarians of the General Libraries. 

Due to recent technological advances, and greater business cooperation between publishers, an increasing number of e-journals allow you to follow links and citations from one article to the complete texts of articles in other subscribed e-journals. Access to individual e-journals is also arranged by University librarians whenever the library currently subscribes to the print version of the journal, when the contract allows University faculty and students appropriate rights, when the journal's online distributor has an appropriate technical infrastructure, and if financial terms are advantageous.  For more information on the library's e-journals see the E-Journal FAQ at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/admin/cird/efaq.html. If you have any questions about e-journals feel free to contact Dennis Dillon dillon@mail.utexas.edu of the library's Collections and Information Resources Division.

LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS BUDGET:
Looking forward to FY 2001/2002, the library will not have enough funds to maintain research support at current levels unless additional funding is identified. Beginning this spring, library bibliographers will be in contact with individual departments to discuss journal, database, and book purchase priorities. Current projections are that the library will need to reduce spending in all subject areas and in all formats (journals, online resources, books) during the coming fiscal year.  If reductions are necessary, information and title lists will be posted on the web for campus-wide review and discussion.(see also Library Acquisitions Overview at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/admin/cird/acquisitionsoverview.html.

DUPLICATE JOURNAL CANCELLATIONS:
During the Spring and Summer of 2000, librarians examined every one of the library's duplicate subscriptions to determine if multiple copies were crucial to meeting the University's mission.  The driving force behind this project was the recognition that we could not sustain our current level of acquisitions expenditures in the coming fiscal year (FY 2000/01), if we did not reduce our ongoing commitments.

The library's Collections and Information Resources Division decided that the underlying principle in this review of serial subscriptions was that there be no loss of content to the campus.  As a result of this review you may notice less duplication of print subscriptions, fewer microfilm subscriptions, and the dropping of some print journals in favor of their more inexpensive e-journal clones. These changes will take effect in January 2001. For more information see: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/admin/cird/review.html

ACADEMIC LIBRARY COLLECTION ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM (ALCEP):
The Board of Regents has once again funded the ALCEP program, which is intended to "add valuable materials to the collections of the premier research library in the Southwest."This program, which is supported by Permanent University Fund bonds, is now in its fourth year and was recently increased to $2 million for the 00/01 school year.Under the terms of the program, UT-Austin librarians consult with librarians of the other UT System component schools to insure that the materials purchased under this program will be of use and benefit throughout the UT System. It is under this program that the General Libraries has been able to purchase thousands of scholarly e-books which are accessible to every faculty member and student in the UT System, as well as to purchase expensive research materials such as the NAACP papers on microfilm. Library bibliographers are currently using ALCEP funds to fill gaps in the library's collection of printed books.

UT A CHARTER MEMBER OF GLOBAL DIGITAL REFERENCE SERVICE:
Since early summer the General Libraries along with the Library of Congress, the National Library of Canada, the National Library of Australia, the Smithsonian, and others has been participating in providing reference services through an international digital network of libraries and related institutions. Known as the Collaborative Digital Reference Service, this growing network allows researchers from around the world to work through their libraries and take advantage of the reference expertise at the Library of Congress, UT-Austin, the Smithsonian and other premier research libraries.For more information: http://www.dlib.org/dlib/june00/kresh/06kresh.html.

PAUL CRET LIBRARY:
The General Libraries has acquired the library of Paul P. Cret (1876-1945), the architect responsible for The University's 1933 Master Plan, the design of the Main Building and UT Tower, and 18 other buildings on the UT campus. The collection totals approximately 700 volumes published between 1560 and the 1930's plus 43 albums, portfolios, and boxed sets of photographs. The books in the Cret Library will be housed in the Architecture and Planning Library. The photographic materials will be cared for in the Alexander Architectural Archive.

WEB CHARACTERIZATION STUDY:
In their annual review of the World Wide Web, researchers at OCLC have determined that the web now contains 7 million unique sites. Sites accessible to the general public constitute about 41% of the web, private web sites 21%, and provisional or transitory sites 38%.Library e-journal, e-books, and databases are part of the private or invisible web. The study also found that Web URLs continue to be volatile. Only 35% of URLs that were good in 1998 are still good today. For more information see <http://wcp.oclc.org/>

AMOUNT OF INFORMATION IN THE WORLD:
"Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" - T. S. Eliot

A study by the UC Berkeley School of Information Management and Systems reports that there are currently 250 megabytes of unique information produced annually for every man, woman, and child on earth.  The report states that only .003 percent of the total amount of information produced each year is in print.  Besides printed information they also examined: radio, TV, video games, photographs, disk drives, the Internet, telephone conversations, CDs, mail, x-rays, etc.If you add up all of this data flow, it is between 1 and 2 exabytes of information per year (an exabyte is a billion gigabytes). The report may be found at http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/how-much-info

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN A NEW ISSUE OF AN E-JOURNAL HAS BEEN PUBLISHED?
Since e-journals do not appear on library shelves, how do you know when a new e-journal issue has been published? Almost all e-journals have an e-mail alert service. If you sign up for this service, the journal will send you an e-mail including the table of contents every time a new issue is available. Several of these alerting services are listed at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/s-alertingservices.html. You can also sign up for the Uncover Reveal comprehensive alerting service. It covers more than 17,000 academic journals at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/reveal/.Through Uncover Reveal you can receive tables of contents for specific journal issues, or e-mail alerts of new articles published on your topic. If you prefer to scan extensive table of contents databases at your convenience, you can try CISTISOURCE(best interface) or CONTENTSFIRST (easy to use) or CARL UNCOVER (a somewhat clumsy interface and command structure). All three databases are located at <http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/c.html>. Each of these databases covers tens of thousands of scholarly journals. Of course, you can also bookmark an e-journal's main web page and check the e-journal at intervals.

MAIL RENEWAL DISCONTINUED:
The General Libraries will discontinue the paper mail renewal service after December 2000.This change in procedures, which was approved by the University library Committee in spring 2000 and announced in August, supports the University's evolution to digital communication and also decreases costs.You may use the online Due-List/Renew service within UTNetCAT at http://utdirect.utexas.edu/lib/utnetcat/ to renew most materials checked out from the General Libraries.You may also renew materials in person at circulation desks in General Libraries units.If you have any questions about renewal services, Jo Anne Hawkins, Associate Director for Public Services will be happy to answer them.She can be reached at 495-4350,j.Hawkins@mail.utexas.edu.

PRINT VS DIGITAL LIBRARY COLLECTIONS:
Though we live in digital times, most research resources are still determinedly analog.While the library provides access to well over 100 million pages of licensed scholarly web resources, approximately 85% of the library's research resources remain available only in print. Last year the library purchased 53,295 books (printed) and received over 25,000 serials (printed).The library also subscribed to 3,500 e-journals and contracted digital rights to over 20,000 e-books. The University's librarians continue to constantly monitor the world's changing information infrastructure in order to build a harmonious balance of formats in all fields.

CONCLUSIONS FROM A RECENT DIGITAL LIBRARY CONFERENCE:
• Digitized books receive about three times the use of their print counterparts.

• Users expect the resources they need to be easily available online and are less willing to track down print materials than they were in the past.

• The cost of digitizing print material is high, but use is higher than in other formats.

• Cost increases of journals between 1960-1995 caused libraries worldwide to respond with journal cancellations, reduced monograph acquisitions, improved document delivery networks, and the formation of library consortia that have used group purchasing power to reduce costs.

• Magazine publishers report that the traditional revenue supplied by paid advertising has not proven viable in the digital environment.This is causing a rethinking of the economics of online publishing.

• There is a growing awareness that users want collections of articles rather than collections of journals.<http://www.arl.org/newsltr/210/econ.html>

RECENTLY ADDED WEB RESOURCES:
All of these may be found at: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/indexes/

African American Newspapers: The 19th Century - Web Access, 1827 - 1902.
Provides searchable full-text access to the major African American newspapers published in the United States during the 19th century.

ANSI, AASHTO, API,  ASME, AWS, & UL Standards.
American National Standards Institute, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, American Petroleum Institute, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, American Welding Society, Underwriters Laboratories.  The General Libraries has many other online standards, contact the Engineering Library http://www.lib.utexas.edu/engin/ for more information.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index. Most current edition. (Gale Group) 
Includes over four million people in all occupations, past and present.

CASSIS Patents Classification , 1790 - present. (U. S. Patent Office)
This database is available only in UT libraries on UT Library Online Stations.

CatalogXpress.
Searchable catalogs for more than 16,000 manufacturers.  Access is limited to one user, please logoff at the end of your session.

CountryWatch.
Political and economic surveys for 191 countries. Updated daily.

Electronic Collections Online. (FirstSearch) 
Our contract with this service includes full-text access to 50 e-journals:

Health Reference Center - Web Access, Dates of coverage vary. (Gale Group) 
Provides over 160 full-text journals in medicine, nursing, allied and consumer health. Includes full-text reference books, pamphlets, overviews of clinical topics, and indexing and abstracts for over 1500 additional titles covering patient and consumer health information.Access funded by the State of Texas

Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA) - Web Access, 1969 - present. (SilverPlatter)

Library Literature & Information Science Full Text.

Literary Market Place Online, Most current edition. (R.R. Bowker)

Philosopher's Index, 1940 - present (SilverPlatter Information, Inc.) 

Professional Development Collection, Dates of coverage vary. (EBSCO) 
Provides a highly specialized collection designed for professional educators. Includes indexing and abstracts for 370 titles with full text for 280 journals.

SciFinder Scholar, 1967 - present. (American Chemical Society. Chemical Abstracts Division)
Provides integrated access to Chemical Abstracts (over 19 million records covering the worldwide chemical literature, including patents), Registry (25 million substance records, with chemical structures and names), CASreact (3 million organic reactions, 1985-present).

Texas Almanac, Most current edition. (Gale Group) 
Access funded by the State of Texas.

TexShare Newspapers - Web Access, Dates of coverage vary. (Gale Group) 
Provides full-text access to newspapers, including titles of local interest like the Austin-American Statesman, Dallas Morning News and the Houston Chronicle. Access funded by the State of Texas.

TRANSPORT - Web Access, 1960 - present. (SilverPlatter) 
Provides bibliographic coverage of transportation research and economic information.

Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory, Most current edition. (Ovid) 

______________________________________________________

LIBRARY NEWS is published by the General Libraries on an occasional basis and distributed via 13 separate mailing lists to the faculty in each of the colleges at the University of Texas at Austin.

More complete news items about the library may be found on the library Web site http://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/news/index.html.

For more information about "Library News: the electronic newsletter of the General Libraries," see the LIBRARY NEWS Archives at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/about/news/librarynewsarchives.html.

To subscribe or unsubscribe to one of these 13 mailing lists, send a message with the name of the list appropriate for your college to the campus listprocessor. Instructions are below.

College and Listname
Architecture = LibNews-ARCH
Business = LibNews-BSAD
Communications = LibNews-COMM
Education = LibNews-EDU
Engineering = LibNews-ENGIN
Fine Arts = LibNews-FA
Liberal Arts = LibNews-LibArt
Library & Info Sci = LibNews-LIS
Natural Sciences = LibNews-NatSci
Nursing = LibNews-Nurs
Pharmacy = LibNews-Pharm
Public Affairs = LibNews-PubAff
Social Work = LibNews-SocW

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