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Scholarly Communication

MU Libraries: Your Connection to Knowledge

  The Program

  The Problem

  More Information

  

 A Forum Sponsored by
University of Missouri-Columbia Libraries
 

The Program

This program was designed to inform faculty and administrators about the continuing global crisis in scholarly communication and to learn how the combined issues of intellectual property, technology, promotion and tenure, and shrinking library budgets are fundamentally altering the academic landscape. See The Information Implosion, a powerpoint presentation by Sue Martin, ACRL Visiting Program Officer for Scholarly Communication.
 
See The Information Implosion, a powerpoint presentation by Sue Martin, ACRL Visiting Program Officer for Scholarly Communication

Scholarly communication [is] the complex matrix of intellectual property, publishing practices and economics, legislative action, technological developments, and academic expectations for tenure, promotion, research, and publication.

Joyce Ogburn, Associate Director of Resource and Collection Management Services, "Scholarly Communication, 2002," University of Washington Library Newsletter.
Source: Monograph and Serial Costs in ARL Libraries, 1986-2001, ARL Statistics, Association of Research Libraries, Washington D.C. 
 

ECONOMICS:  Between 1986 and 2001:

  • The unit cost of serials has increased by 215% (~8.5% compound annual rate)
  • Serials expenditures have increased by 212% 
  • The number of serials purchased has decreased by 5%  
  • The number of monographs purchased has decreased by 9%
  • The Consumer Price Index increased 62%

Universities simply cannot continue to acquire all of the titles that their faculty desire. At MU, the Libraries cancelled 852 titles worth $472,000 in 2000. 
 

JOURNAL COMPETITION:

New models of scholarly publishing New initiatives in scholarly publishing have the potential to radically change the way in which research results are disseminated. These include:
 

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

  PROMOTION AND TENURE

WHAT YOU CAN DO 

  • Know the prices of the journals in which you publish.
  • Be aware of profiteering in scholarly publishing.
  • Publish in not-for-profit journals where possible.
  • Share resources. If you can use it from another institution's collection, do we really need it in our holdings?
  • Insist on quality, not quantity, as the benchmark of scholarly excellence.
  • Be sure to read your publisher's copyright release before you sign it; you may find that you cannot offer online or print access to your own articles without prior permission.

Links to More Information  articles and web sites

ARTICLES 

WEB SITES