By Jack Jeffery
Staff writer
The cost of obtaining scholarly publications has risen astronomically, with journal subscription rates increasing by 175 percent between 1986 and 1998. "For the Ohio University Libraries, an annual budget increase of around $300,000 is needed just to stay even," Ohio Universities Dean Julia Zimmerman noted.
Consequently, to maintain essential journal subscriptions while adopting necessary belt-tightening measures, the University Libraries are purchasing fewer publications. The result is reduced availability of books and subscriptions. This has a chilling effect on scholarly communication, which is integral to the practice of teaching, learning and research.
The situation magnifies the paradoxical landscape of scholarly publication, Zimmerman pointed out. College and university faculty are the primary producers of the research that fills journals. However, because academic reputations are built and tenure decisions made largely on the publication of articles in prestigious journals, too often faculty sign over the ownership of their research to publishers.
The publishers, in turn, sell the journals to university libraries at inflated costs. As a result, libraries end up paying top dollar for research conducted at their own universities.
To help remedy this situation, Zimmerman and her colleagues in Ohio University Libraries support initiatives spurred by the Association of Research Libraries' Scholarly Publications and Academic Resource Coalition. The association encourages cost-efficient measures of scholarly publication and acquisition, such as alternative electronic journals, start-up funding and support for publishers willing to compete with mainstream giants, and strategies for faculty involvement, including retaining copyright to their works.
To examine the association's suggestions, visit its Web site at www.arl.org/sparc/
