Posts Tagged 'serials'

Reality Bites: Periodicals Price Survey 2009

In the present economic climate, which has seen library budgets decrease, and South Carolina’s PASCAL (their counterpart to Georgia’s GALILEO) lose 90% of its funding, one thing remains steady:  the rising prices of periodical subscriptions and electronic resource licenses.  For the rundown, including tables with periodical costs by discipline, please visit this link to Library Journal’s annual Periodicals Price Survey.

New Interface for Electronic Journals

Dear Patrons,
Last year, GALILEO implemented SFX software to provide the e-journal A-Z list and links for GALILEO databases.  Many of you are already familiar with the SFX interface from GALILEO’s usage of it; a brief overview is available at http://www.exlibrisgroup.com/category/UsingSFX.
As of January 1, 2009, Henderson Library has made the switch from EBSCO A-Z software for providing links to electronic journals to the SFX A-Z software.  (No worries, we still have the EBSCO databases!)  The “Electronic Journals A-Z” link from the Library’s home page has been changed to link to the SFX A-Z list.   Although the look of the new list is very different from the previous one, it contains the same type of information.   More changes are coming to make the list more user-friendly.
You will also see a new look for information for individual titles in the library catalog.   There will no longer be a “click here” message in the records to link to full text.  That message has been replaced by the following:
“Click FIND IT button above.”
The “find it” button is at the top of the record to the left of the “brief display” button, and only appears if there are electronic holdings.
Activating access to titles through SFX and changing the library catalog notes/links to SFX are manual tasks.  We have activated most of the titles and periodical packages and converted many of the notes/links, but you will continue to see the old “click here” notes until we complete the systematic review each title.
If you encounter a link that does not work correctly, please contact Debra Skinner, Catalog Librarian, at dskinner@georgiasouthern.edu, and we will correct the problem as quickly as possible.  In your message,  please include the journal title and a brief description of the problem.
Since we are still in the process of activating some titles, we recommend checking both the Henderson Library and the GALILEO electronic journal A-Z lists, since a title might be in one place and not the other at this point.  (The GALILEO list is at the yellow tab marked “Journals A-Z.”)
Please ask us about any link that does not work the way that you think it should.  In other words, if in doubt, please report it!
If you need additional information about this change, please contact the Henderson Library Learning Commons Desk (478-5645) or submit your request via Ask a Librarian (http://library.georgiasouthern.edu/forms/askzach.html)
Thank you, from your friends at the Zach S. Henderson Library!

Google Book Search expands to magazines

Google Book Search announced today that they are adding magazines and journals (a.k.a. serials or periodicals).  Here’s the scoop.  Here’s the search.  Remember also that you’ll be able to access more full-text online articles via GALILEO, and Henderson Library’s collection (online, print, etc.) contains a wealth of resources that you won’t be able to access via Google Book Search.  These should all be parts of your research repertoire, along with our Subject Specialist Librarians who are at your service, ready to assist you anytime in person, or via IM/chat, e-mail, or phone.

Libraries and the Economic Crisis

Higher education in the United States is struggling financially.  Library budgets are being squeezed, forcing cancellations of databases, journal subscriptions, book purchases, etc.  GIL Express, the University System of Georgia’s expedited delivery of books among USG Libraries, is operating under emergency funds through the end of the fall semester, and there are no promises after that.  As Bloomberg reports, The University of Georgia Libraries are “canceling at least 660 journals to save $1.66 million annually.”
The Zach S. Henderson Library at Georgia Southern University is also having to make deep cuts in our information supply.  You’ll be hearing from us soon about a full subscription review.  All of our ongoing subscriptions to databases, journals, and other continuing resources will have to be critically considered, and we will rely upon our faculty experts across campus to make recommendations for canceling the least essential resources.  We strive to deliver the necessary information and services, even in the current economic crisis; in this way we hope to continue to achieve our mission.  Thank you for your understanding and your support.  Please see below for one way you can help.
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For $125 Henderson Library is offering unframed prints of this Frank Fortune photograph of the renovated library building. Each print is reproduced on watercolor paper and autographed by Mr. Fortune. Contact the Dean of the Library’s Office, 478-5115.  Details on additional giving opportunities in support of Henderson Library are available here.
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E-Journals: Behind the scenes

Here’s a little background on our recent e-journals announcement.  In case you’re wondering how we were able to add 389 electronic journals to our collection in the midst of Henderson Library’s ongoing budget crisis, this might be of interest to you.  (Many thanks to Iris Durden, Serials Librarian, for providing both the work and the information on this achievement!)

Because faculty and students are increasingly expecting resources to be available online, Henderson Library has been constantly evaluating current periodical print subscriptions to determine the best format for delivery of information for the present learning environment as well as for future needs.  The Library provides access to periodicals online through various full-text databases and through individual subscriptions with online access (both free and for reasonable upcharge fees).   The continuing analysis of subscription options for journals and databases is necessitated by ongoing library budget shortfalls, as well as rapidly rising subscription costs and frequent shifts in publishing strategies.

The journal publishing market has changed drastically during the past few years.  Many journal publishers are restructuring their subscription options and charges in a variety of ways.  For example, many publishers no longer offer “free online” with a print subscription, instead charging an additional fee (5-10%) for online access with the print subscription, or offering reduced pricing (compared to print only subscription) for online only access.  If “free online” is offered with a print subscription, access might be for only one person at a time (username/ password required), rather than unlimited simultaneous use (“site license”/IP authentication).

A number of prominent journal publishers have begun pulling their current journal content from aggregated full-text databases and are now offering their periodical titles in their own full-text packages and/or portals.  Examples:  Duke University Press, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, etc.

The economics of the publishing world continue to evolve at a rapid pace.  The recent Harvard decision to adopt an open-access policy for providing free online access to their faculty publications is being widely discussed in academia and beyond.

For further information, please see Journal Pricing from SPARC, the Open Access FAQ from the Public Library of Science, and news on scholarly communication and publishing from SPARC.

New Electronic Journals

We are pleased to let you know that Henderson Library has now added 389 electronic journals to our collection. Included are 12 titles in Project Muse, 18 titles from Duke University Press (plus current subscriptions to 11 additional titles for which we already had online back issues), 177 titles from Cambridge University Press, and 182 titles from Oxford University Press. These, along with all of our e-journals, are now available via our Electronic Journals A-Z list, where you can search by journal title, publisher, or ISSN, or browse by subject.

You can access our e-journals and databases from anywhere with your GALILEO password (only needed when off-campus).  We’re in the process of putting this new information in the library catalog as well. We had previously subscribed to some of these journals in print. For those which have been changed from print to electronic format, we have placed a sign in each journal’s former location in the Current Periodicals shelving area on the 3rd floor of the Library.


Zach’s News

Welcome to Zach's News! This blog serves as the newsletter for the Zach S. Henderson Library of Georgia Southern University. Please visit our library website at http://library.georgiasouthern.edu The earlier version of our newsletter, Current Issues Only, is available at http://library.georgiasouthern.edu/cio/cio.html