The current library acquisitions strategy regarding electronic journals is one of fiscally conservative experimentation.The University of Texas Libraries continues to add electronic versions of those print journals to which it currently subscribes on UT Library Online (the library's web site) and the Library Catalog.
when it can do so at minimal additional cost, when the licensing terms do not restrict the rights of University of Texas faculty and students who will be using the journals, and when the journal's publishers employ appropriate technology.
The library expects to increase the numbers of electronic journals available, with a special emphasis on those vendors that provide cross-linkages between web-based scholarly databases and web-based journals, so that a researcher will eventually be able to move quickly from a database directly to a cited article. In addition to these factors, the library also gives heavy consideration to long-term access and archiving issues, as well as general issues of usability.Campus readership of the library's electronic journals has increased steadily over the last several years. The library has been tracking online usage, and has been surprised to find that some e-journals are being used more many times more frequently than their matching print versions. This corresponds with the findings of a student survey the library did in 1997, in which the students indicated that if the library had to choose between subscribing to a print or electronic version of a journal, the students would prefer the electronic version.
Not all printed journal titles are also available electronically. Science/technology journals have the highest number of online versions, followed by the social sciences, and then the arts and humanities. The number of standard printed scholarly journals with online equivalents, however, continues to increase steadily.Pricing strategies vary widely from publisher to publisher, but in University of Texas Libraries are able to subscribe to an e-journal for appoximately 10% less than a printed journal. By forming consortia, groups of libraries are often able to negotiate access to additional e-journal titles, without increasing cost. By employing this strategy The University of Texas Libraries has been able to increase the number of journal avialable on campus, without increasing cost.
The traditional print journal is a bundle of articles, which are then bundled into a volume of issues. Scholarly publishers have realized that the new electronic formats allow this information to be re-bundled and marketed in new ways, and as a result we are increasingly seeing this journal information being made available in bundles that do not correspond to the traditional print journal model.
If there are any electronic journals that you are interested in, please contact your librarian so that the titles may be added to the library's want lists. We will be adding these journals as funds become available, prudence dictates, and as technological and licensing issues allow. As always, budgetary considerations will be an important factor in e-journal acquisitions.
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