What is scholarly communication and what is the "Scholarly Communication Crisis?"
Scholarly communication is the process by which scholarly information is produced, disseminated, preserved, and used. Traditionally, scholars within academia create the information. These scholars then turn to publishers to produce and package the information. Libraries purchase the information from the publishers, organize it, and provide access to the publications. This allows for the widespread dissemination of the scholarly information and continued use of it by scholars.
Sharp increases in the prices of publications for libraries, which greatly outweigh any increases in library budgets, have led to a perceived scholarly communication crisis in recent times. Libraries have been forced to purchase fewer items even though their budgets continue to increase. The extent of the crisis can be understood by looking at statistics like those presented in "U.S. Periodical Prices-2002" which indicates an annual subscription price increase of 7.9% for 2002 for all U.S. journal categories (except Russian Translations). "The rate has been very similiar over the past four years with 10.4% and 9.0% increases posted in 1999 and 2000, respectively, and 8.3% and 7.9% in 2001 and 2002." As journal prices continue to steadily increase, more of a library's budget is spent to maintain the current journal collection and fewer dollars can be allocated for new book purchases. There is also evidence suggesting scholars are unable to personally subscribe to more than a handful of titles and have become increasingly dependent on their libraries for broad access to their literature at a time when libraries have had to restrict their holdings.
The abundance of electronic resources has contributed to the crisis, rather than solving it. As the availability of electronic resources has increased, so has the demand for them by the library user. In general, electronic resources are expensive. The push to acquire them has increased the financial burden on libraries. Often, an electronic version of a traditional resource has an associated cost in addition to what is already being paid for the paper. With the increasing popularity of electronic titles, publishers are fundamentally changing pricing models, which price combined electronic access and print subscription at higher levels than electronic access only options. Consequently, libraries are being forced to move to electronic only access to some publishers' journal titles. Scholars and librarians alike are concerned about perpetual access to electronic titles in general, and in cases when subscriptions are cancelled or journals are discontinued. Until the technological issues are fully addressed, libraries will continue to feel the burden of providing both traditional print and electronic access to important scholarly material.
To find more about scholarly communication, see the Association of Research Libraries.
To find out more about the challenges related to your department's literature, contact your departmental collection manager.
B. Albec and B. Dingley, "U.S. Periodical Prices-2002," American Library Association, 2003.
