Issues in Scholary Information

Copy of Diane Walker's presentation to Faculty Forum, March 26, 2003

Several recent studies have concluded that the current system of scholarly publication (especially high-priced scholarly journals) cannot be sustained. Research libraries, along with their educational institutions, are caught in a spiral of increasing output and steeply increasing prices that has dramatically decreased their capacity to build comprehensive collections. Intellectual property has become a commercial commodity for which institutions often pay twice: first to support faculty and students conducting research, then again to buy the results of that research at high prices from commercial entities.

Funding allocations cannot keep pace. Nationally, the price of the average journal subscription increased 215% between 1986 and 2001. The price of the average book increased 68%. During the same period, the consumer Price Index increased by only 62%.

The links below lead to additional information and proposals for change:

•  Analysis 
•  Effects at UVa 
•  Proposals 
•  Copyright 

Analysis

"The Crisis in Scholarly Publishing: Executive Summary". Stanford University Academic Council, Committee on Libraries (C-LIB), Stephen Boyd (chair) and Andrew Herkovic. April 30, 1999.

"Journal Costs: Current Trends & Future Scenarios for 2020," ARL [Association of Research Libraries] Bimonthly Report, Issue 210, June 2000. 

Roundtable on Managing Intellectual Property in Higher Education. March 1998. Cosponsored by the Association of Research Libraries, the Association of American Universities,and the Pew Higher Education Roundtable. 

Scholarly Communication and Library Collections. University of Kansas Libraries. 

"Special Issue on Journals". ARL Newsletter, Issue 200, October 1998. 

The Specialized Monograph in Crisis Or How Can I Get Tenure If You Won't Publish . September 11-12, 1997. Conference Sponsored by: American Council of Learned Societies, Association of American University Presses, Association of Research Libraries. 

"To Publish and Perish," Policy Perspectives, Special Issue, March 1998. Co-sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries, the Association of American Universities,and the Pew Higher Education Roundtable. 

Effects At UVa

"The Price of Scholarly Publication." Outline of a presentation to the Faculty Senate, December 2000.

Walker, Diane. "Collections Budget - Not Just a Library Problem". Libra. September 1998. 

Stubbs, Kendon. "So Many Books, So Little Money". Libra. February 1997. 

Proposals

Create Change:  A resource for faculty and librarian action to reclaim scholarly communication co-sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries, Association of College and Research Libraries, and the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), with support from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. 

Declaring Independence:  A guide to creating community-controlled science journals.

eLib: the Electronic Libraries Programme

Stevan Harnard. "For Whom the Gate Tolls? Freeing the Scholarly and Scientific Research Literature Online Through Author/Institution Self-Archiving" Historical Association, Boston, January 2001. 

Copyright

Copyright Law and Policy at the University of Virginia. 

The case of Gordon & Breach v. American Institute of Physics and American Physical Society. Stanford University Libraries, Yale University Libraries, 1997.\