1 Introduction
In 1996, there were many developments which are a source of pride. But there
were also developments which are a source for concern.
1.1 Achievements
The Library's most notable achievements were related to its strategy to develop
virtual library services. Over the last few years, the Library has endeavoured
to construct a model of the virtual library which will allow users to access
both analogue and digital materials wherever they are located. The terms
'electronic', 'digital' and 'virtual' are frequently used synonymously, but the
Monash model of the virtual library service is not merely electronic or digital.
It is used to describe a system that provides to users transparent access to a
range of services and information resources wherever these are located. In that
sense the service is 'virtual' to the user, because both the analogue and
digital resources need not be held locally.
In 1996, the Library continued to add to the range of virtual library
services, including:
- the provision of access to additional electronic bibliographic and full
text databases, specifically in the areas of psychology, engineering,
medicine and business
- the live implementation of the electronic reserve system at Berwick
- the Legal Information Online project
- pilot experimental projects in Audio on Demand and Video on Demand
- active involvement in Web developments and the creation of subject
gateways via the web pages of the various branch libraries
- success in developing the 'launcher' software which will permit Web access
to the CD-ROM network
- the development of the electronic document delivery system
- the MEADS (Monash Electronic Access and Delivery of Serials) trial to
facilitate unmediated electronic ordering and journal article delivery from
those specialised journals that have been cancelled
- the student docking station project involving the Law Library and the
Computer Centre to allow direct student access to the campus network from
their laptop computers
- the provision of multimedia workstations for Internet access.
In many ways the Library's virtual library service developments will provide
the teaching and research infrastructure to support the University's plans for
more flexible delivery of educational programs in the 'new learning
environment'. But there are large costs involved, and with the continual decline
in the Library's operating budget, it will become more and more difficult for
the Library to continue to pioneer many of these developments.
Although the Library is committed to the concept of a virtual library service
which includes traditional as well as new media, and the strategy is to combine
the two as best befits the variant needs and wishes of academic staff and
students, it continued to buy and process 45,000 printed items in 1996, thus
belying fears that it is abandoning traditional scholarship. Other highlights in
1996 were related to the Library's quality assurance activities, its success in
ensuring that its architectural briefs were successfully translated into
functional building plans for the Gippsland and Peninsula campus libraries and
its successful staff training programs.
1.2 Concerns
The developments which continued to be a source of concern related to the
unrelenting rise in the cost of books and periodicals, which, coupled with a
shrinking budget in real terms have made it increasingly difficult for the
Library to meet the demands of the students, teachers and researchers. The
demand for library services continued to grow unabated - a consequence of the
expansion in teaching and research programs and a substantial growth in student
numbers. The most striking growth in demand, which had a critical impact on the
Library budget because of its high labour and other costs, was in document
delivery. The improved electronic document delivery system which reduced
turnaround time of normal transactions from up to two months to less than ten
days led to an explosive growth in demand - more than 60% for interlibrary loans
and 45% for intercampus loans. This unprecedented growth has forced the Library
to consider imposing a quota in 1997 to cap demand, and this step will
undoubtedly be an unpopular move.
Realising trends predicted earlier, 1996 also saw a remarkable growth in
electronic publishing. There was considerable activity among commercial
publishers, universities, scholarly societies, software companies and
individuals to create electronic publications - mostly for distribution either
using the Internet and other proprietary networks or CD-ROMs. In the scholarly
(and especially the scholarly journal) arena, much of the scholarly information
continued to be digitised forms of print publications. The number of purely
electronic journals which are peer reviewed increased considerably. For example,
of the 1695 electronic journals listed in the ARL Directory of electronic
journals and newsletters, 1996, 517 were said to be peer reviewed. This
contrasts with the situation in 1991 when only 110 electronic journals were peer
reviewed. Indeed, it has been predicted that by the year 2000, almost all
science, technology and medical journals will be available online.
Of course, while much information remains available solely in analogue form,
moving analogue information like printed books and journals will not be easy or
cheap since it is labour intensive. The ideal situation would be one where all
materials were available in electronic form, but this is unlikely to happen.
Print will not be completely replaced by electronic formats, and the fact that
more than one million print titles continue to be published every year means
that print, and especially the monographs and other materials required to
support undergraduate teaching, will continue to co-exist with electronic
publications in the foreseeable future.
The fact that the Library will have to continue to handle both print and
electronic formats creates its own set of problems. A few of these are:
- Firstly, the Library will have to continue to maintain at great cost and
expense what are essentially parallel libraries - one based on print and one
on electronic formats. The costs are not only in the area of staffing
required for project management and to serve and train end users, but also
in the continuing spiralling costs of monographs and periodicals, in the
need to pay expensive licence fees for usage, in setting up and installing
new systems, in acquiring the appropriate hardware, and so on. In the past
few years, the Library has been fortunate in that it has been able to gain
access to other sources of funding such as Quality funds, Open Learning
funds, and Research Infrastructure funds. Many of these sources are likely
to be diminished or disappear in the next few years.
- Secondly, the Library's current experience seems to indicate that
electronic access will add a new layer of costs rather than save money. This
is because the traditional scholarly publishers like Elsevier, Springer and
Academic Press have been quick to protect their markets by also moving into
electronic publishing. But many of their publications continue to be merely
electronic versions of scholarly print journals. Such publishers, not
surprisingly, do not see electronic publications so much as a replacement of
print, but as an additional source of revenue; and they have priced their
publications accordingly. Many publishers of key scholarly journals will
only allow access to their electronic editions if the print subscription is
continued. While some provide free access if the print subscription is
maintained, many usually charge a premium of up to 30% of the cost of the
print subscription, as well as imposing all kinds of restrictions on access,
eg from a single IP address, a single building, a single campus, or a
limited number of simultaneous users. Not all publishers are so predatory in
their pricing behaviour, but most are. The one saving grace is that the
World Wide Web provides an easy means of publishing electronically with
minimal capital investment, and may eventually provide traditional scholarly
publishers with new competition - which might in turn lead to a reduction in
the cost of access.
- Thirdly, one of the consequences of the move to electronic access is that
we no longer have control or ownership of the materials for which we pay
large sums of money. Most of the electronic products that we acquire are
actually leased or licensed for use. This means that when we cease to pay
the licensing or leasing fees, we also cease to have access. Thus, in
contrast with the past, we can no longer guarantee permanent access to
scholarly information in the future.
- Finally, even though digital information resources will extend the reach
of the University in a number of areas, print will continue to be a major
information resource in several disciplines, at least in the foreseeable
future. One should not underestimate the cost of providing access to
analogue materials to remote staff and students. In the flexible learning
environment envisaged, staff and students may be located anywhere, and it is
likely that the specific print resources that they want will be located
somewhere else. The costs of delivering these analogue materials can be
prohibitive.
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