The Right of Passage: Going from Print to Electronic, is it the Right Move??

Barbara Dietsch

UNC Contractor

US EPA Library

Environmental Protection Agency Research Triangle Park

The EPA's center for research on:

Air pollution and the effects on human health and ecological systems

Hub of EPA's air pollution programs under the Clean Air Act

Home of the EPA National Computer Center

EPA-RTP Library

In 1974, EPA contracted with UNC's School of Library Science (now SILS, or School of Information and Library Science) to provide onsite library services.

EPA-RTP Library Collection

As a leader among the libraries in EPA’s National Library Network, the EPA-RTP Library provides access to:

More than 500 journal titles Over 5000 books 150,000 microfiche Almost 14,000 documents

Specialized subject areas include air pollution, emphasizing chemical toxicity and related sciences

2006 Print and Electronic Resources

257 Print Subscriptions 129 E-Journal Subscriptions 181 Open Access Journals on Gateway 0 Electronic Books 3 CD-ROM Titles ISI Web of Knowledge

2007 Print and Electronic Resources

42 Print Subscriptions 659 E-Journal Subscriptions 351 Open Access Journals on Gateway 20 Electronic Books 2 CD-ROM Titles ISI Web of Knowledge

US EPA Facilities

Headquarters, Washington D.C. 10 Regional Offices 9 Research Laboratories 2 Major Research Centers

– Research Triangle Park– Cincinnati

Background of EPA Library Journal Subscriptions

Historically, the individual libraries ordered and paid for their own journal subscriptions because of the different research focus and budgets of the libraries.

Office of Environmental Information

Beginning in 2000, the OEI in Washington, D.C. negotiated the first agency-wide full-text journals package, ScienceDirect, with Elsevier

Subscribed for agency-wide online access to three key journals

Science Nature Environmental Science & Technology

OEI – cont.

Between 2001 and the present added other resources:

– Books & Reports– Dissertations & Theses– Citation Search– Newspapers & Newsletters– Reference– Transcripts, Speeches & Briefings

Journals

Because of journal cost and research focus, individual libraries continued to be responsible for their own print and electronic journal subscriptions.

This brings us to 2007

To respond to journals budget restructuring, the two research centers, RTP and Cincinnati, worked together to procure online journal subscriptions for both sites.

How We Did It

For 2007, each location entered into new, but separate contracts with vendors for multi-site online subscriptions

To determine what titles would be purchased by each location, we combined our title lists, then divided it by publisher, local importance and usage statistics

Subscription Requirements

All online subscriptions must be multi-site using IP address recognition

Any titles not available online multi-site, will be entered as a print subscription only

No single-site subscriptions!

Types of Subscriptions

Multi-site online– 2 locations, RTP and Cincinnati– 10 locations, Research Laboratories– Agency-wide

Print and online, bundled (forced combo) Print and online, multi-site & 1 print sub. Print only

Phased Approach

1) Switch to online only

2) Select an ERMS

3) Evaluate what other ERM products we need

4) Create an E-Journal Finder

5) As funds allow, purchase publisher backfiles (a.k.a. legacy archives)

Promotion/Marketing

Signage in library Announcements on library website Library newsletter Journal Alert listserv Personal contact New employee orientation Agency mass mailer (email)

To Catalog or Not???

No, because the EPA’s Online Library System (OLS) is agency-wide, but most online journals are not

Confusing to – the EPA researchers not located in RTP or

Cincinnati– general public

“Why don’t we get online access to this journal, it’s in your catalog?”

Impact on Staff and Workflow

We are experiencing similar patterns as Drexel University did after their transition to online only subscriptions.

Circulation/Access

Activity Impact

Reshelving Reduced staff time

Stack maintenance Reduced staff time

Collecting print usage data Reduced staff time

User photocopyingUndetermined, but probably reduced use

Technical Services

Activity Impact

Print journal check-in Reduced staff time

E-journal acquisitions Increased staff time

Claiming Reduced staff time

BindingNone, we don’t bind journals

Technical Services – cont.

Activity Impact

Cataloging print Reduced staff time

Cataloging print Reduced OCLC charges

Cataloging e-journalsNone, we’re not cataloging e-journals at this time

E-journal A-Z list maintenance

Increased staff time

Technical Services – cont.

Activity Impact

Print subscriptions Reduced costs

Electronic subscriptions Increased costs

Journal selection Increased staff time

ERM Products Increased costs

Information Services

Activity Impact

Reference at desk Increased staff time

Instruction/promotion Increased staff time

Preparing documentation Increased staff time

Document Delivery

Activity Impact

Copy service Reduced staff time

ILL - borrowing Reduced staff time

ILL - borrowing/chargesNo change since we mostly pay for standards and dissertations/theses

ILL - lendingNo change since we don’t catalog our e-journals

Systems

Activity Impact

Infrastructure purchase Increased equipment costs

Infrastructure maintenance Increased staff time

Infrastructure maintenance Increased contract costs

Negotiating contracts Increased staff time

Systems – cont.

Activity Impact

Setting up access Increased staff time

Developing decision support tools

Increased staff time

Collecting usage data Increased staff time

Printing Increased costs

Administration

Activity Impact

Managing the change Increased staff time

Attention to decisions Increased staff time

Coordination with other EPA libraries

Increased staff time

Budgeting Increased staff time

New Processes

Acquisition/purchase process Licensing Setting up access Solving invoicing and payment problems Troubleshooting access problems Providing systems support Checking links and archival coverage Setting up and maintaining links to e-journals from

Dialog, Web of Knowledge, and PubMed Collection and analysis of usage statistics

Space utilization

Little impact so far because we have had to weed journals and monographs every year for growth

We will retain our existing journal collection until we purchase online access to back files

So far………

Three months into it, how are we doing??

So-so

Major Accomplishments

Providing desktop access to online resources Negotiating agency-wide access for some of

our subscriptions– Springer Journals collections – Taylor & Francis journals– Additional Nature Publishing Group titles

More collaboration among EPA libraries to consolidate journal resources and reduce title duplication

Challenges

Incorrect type of subscription entered with publisher by vendor– Single-site institution instead of multi-site

IP addresses not registered with order Incomplete IP addresses given to publisher No notice given when access is activated Invoicing issues with subscription vendor

Some of the Benefits to using Subscription Agents

One point of contact for subscriptions A single invoice and renewal list Assistance in explaining, interpreting and

negotiating license agreements Assistance with registering IP addresses Processing the required subscription forms

Customer Service Reps need to:

Know the difference between single-site, multi-site, and username/password online subscriptions

Comprehend site licenses and IP address recognition

Understand the subscription requirements for the library

In the months ahead……

Ensure that all subscriptions are active Create regular maintenance and usage

statistics collection schedules Revisit current staffing plan Streamline workflow processes

– I need to re-write my job description! Investigate link-resolving software Develop or purchase an ERMS

My thanks go to……………

Ellen Leadem, NIEHS Library Selden Durgom Lamoureux, University of North

Carolina - Chapel Hill

………for taking the time to talk with me about Electronic Resource Management Systems and being so supportive with all my questions.