The Future of the Academic Library Serials Collection Barbara M
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Against the Grain Volume 19 | Issue 5 Article 7 November 2007 THe Future of the Academic Library Serials Collection Barbara M. Pope MALS Pittsburg State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/atg Part of the Library and Information Science Commons Recommended Citation Pope, Barbara M. MALS (2007) "THe Future of the Academic Library Serials Collection," Against the Grain: Vol. 19: Iss. 5, Article 7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7771/2380-176X.5274 This document has been made available through Purdue e-Pubs, a service of the Purdue University Libraries. Please contact [email protected] for additional information. quad. Several LTS staff are also located in the no two electronic resources follow exactly the Use of Technology ... smaller unit libraries across campus. However, same pattern. from page 20 despite this distributed nature, personnel from every unit are involved in electronic resources Conclusion the receipt of electronic resource requests from workflow. Centralizing e-resources requests in In its investigation of electronic resource selectors and track electronic resources through a Web-based client which is viewable by many workflow, Cornell University Library staff the entire workflow process. LTS staff eases communication problems; a created the model described in this article, Using Mantis for Receiving piece of paper is no longer passed from person which shows that acquiring, deploying, and evaluating electronic resources is not nearly Resource Requests to person and across campus. Several steps are listed on the “checklist” as simple a process as it was for traditional, Cornell University is an extremely com- included in the tracking system, although not print resources. Other libraries considering plex organization, consisting of both private every step is used for each new resource. Some electronic resources may find that this model and land-grant colleges that reside across of the steps include: licensing, ordering, local helps in thinking about the various steps en- New York State, from the main campus in record creation or bulk-loading of vendor re- countered in working with electronic resources. Ithaca, New York, to the agricultural experi- cords, adding the resource to the EZproxy.cfg Those libraries that have already identified a ment station in Geneva, New York, and the file, and creating openURL links. Some steps workflow for electronic resources may find the medical school in New York City and Doha, are very specific toCornell , such as notifying Mantis solution developed by Cornell helpful Qatar. Cornell University Library consists the librarians at the Weill Medical College in managing their workflow. Libraries may of twenty libraries, including branches for the when a new resource has been added to which have developed other solutions to help manage agricultural experiment station and the medical they are also allowed access. electronic resource workflow, butCornell has school. Thus, in many cases, Cornell Univer- found that using Mantis has enabled its staff sity Library selectors can not just walk across The tracking system allows technical services staff to write notes as needed and to to effectively communicate with one another the library to hand a technical services staff about electronic resources and keep abreast member a request for an electronic resource. check off tasks which have been completed. The system allows for a great deal of flexibility; of the place of any particular resource in the For several years, Cornell University Library electronic resource workflow. has recognized the difficulties encountered by for example, a selector can upload a Microsoft widely dispersed selectors in communicating Word document listing each title in a package requests for intangible items. In the past, of fifty electronic books, rather than submitting Endnotes it had used something called a Networked an individual NERF for each title. In addition, 1. http://www.niso.org/committees/SERU/ Electronic Resource Form, or NERF, which multiple communications between Cornell and 2. http://www.usefulutilities.com/support/ was included in the Library Technical Services a vendor can be recorded in the tracking sys- overview.html (LTS) Website and utilized by selectors any tem. The tracking system also allows technical 3. https://www.scholarlystats.com/ time they needed to request a new resource. services staff to forward electronic resources 4. http://www.mantisbt.org/ The NERF asked selectors for several pieces to one another once each person is done with 5. http://www.mantisbt.org/manual/manual. of information about a resource, including the his or her part of the workflow. Overall, the about.mantis.history.php name of the resource, its URL, what federated system is very flexible which is helpful since search subject categories it should be included in, use restrictions, and payment information. This form was not interactive, however, and selectors had to print out the form from the Website, fill it in, and send it through campus mail to library technical services. Mantis was The Future of the Academic Library used to not only make the NERF interactive on the Web, but also to tie the form into the Mantis Serials Collection tracking system. This way, selectors could not only use the new Mantis-based NERF to by Barbara M. Pope, MALS (Reference/Periodicals Librarian, Axe Library, request new resources, technical services staff Pittsburg State University) <[email protected]> would no longer have to key the information into a Web form — it would be automatically In the early days of American universi- to provide scholarly journals. This article will added into the Mantis tracking system. In ties and colleges, the academic library was concentrate on the trend of academic libraries addition, selectors would be able to use the insignificant and “functioned as a storehouse” to provide journals through electronic subscrip- tracking system to see where in the workflow for non-curriculum related books, mostly tions and databases, along with the effect this process any particular electronic resource was, donated, and those purchased with donated has on budgeting, staffing, and work flows. thus reducing the number of email messages funds (Johnson, 4-5). The academic library Whereas the academic library’s activities were and phone calls back and forth between selec- did not support the curriculum, as univer- once separated into collecting, organizing, tors and technical services. sities did not emphasize scholarship and creating access to resources by (Johnson, 5). The Morrill Act of specific staff members, to some Using Mantis for Tracking 1862 created land-grant universi- degree, the lines are blurred and Resource Workflow ties and obliged them to produce those areas have become the re- The tracking system also enables LTS staff scholarly material, resulting in sponsibility of all staff. In order to monitor the resource as it goes through the a scholarly emphasis and an for electronic journal imple- process of being added to the CUL collection. increase in scholarly publication mentation to be successful, staff LTS consists of four distributed units: Acquisi- (Johnson, 5-6). Suddenly, “the must be united in their efforts to tions and Cataloging, Database Management academic library became a neces- accomplish the goal of providing Services, Electronic Resources and Serials sity” for obtaining needed research access; without integration, access Management, and Metadata Services. The (Johnson, 6). Since then, the academic may be compromised and the value of Electronic Resources and Serials Management library has supported the university curriculum electronic journals may be null. staff is located in the Albert R. Mann Library and research and continues to collect, organize, In the face of enormous journal price in- on the university’s agricultural quad, while and provide access to information. However, creases and the desire to expand access, some the majority of the other LTS staff is located due to increasing patrons’ expectations, sky- academic libraries have eliminated print sub- in Olin Library, the main campus library rocketing costs, and academic library budgets scriptions in favor of electronic subscriptions. located on the university’s arts and sciences which fall behind costs, many of them struggle continued on page 24 22 Against the Grain / November 2007 <http://www.against-the-grain.com> The Future of the Academic ... from page 22 against thepeople grain profile Other libraries, such as Massachusetts College of Pharmacy, have eliminated some or all print journal holdings. Computer savvy patrons like Reference/Periodicals Librarian, Axe Library the convenience of obtaining articles where Pittsburg State University, 1701 S. Broadway, Pittsburg KS 66762 they are, indicating electronic journals elimi- Phone: (620) 235-4884 Fax: (620) 235-4090 nate barriers that existed with print. However, <[email protected]> critics fear that electronic resources signal the end of the library and the librarian. Whereas BORN & LIVED: I was born in Fort Hood, Texas. I have lived in Kansas, Missouri, F. W. Lancaster predicted a paperless society, Texas, and Colorado. others take a rational approach, emphasiz- ing the need for balance. “The choice is not EARLY LIFE: When I was three weeks old, I moved from Fort Hood, Texas to between ancient and modern, technology and Missouri. I moved again to Colorado when I was about two years old. I moved books, [. .] or any of the other dichotomies that back to Missouri when I was four years old. I spent the rest of my childhood bedevil us. It is, rather, about how to balance in Missouri and since then, have bounced back and forth between Kansas and these factors and create something that has the Missouri. best of each” (Gorman, 5). Most academic li- FAMILY: I live with my husband, Vernon. I have a father-in-law, Clyve Pope, and braries have both print and electronic journals, mother-in-law, Helen Pope, who live in Cherokee, Kansas. My brother, David, providing a balance, but the academic library’s nephew, Dustin, and niece, Danielle, live in Springfield, Missouri.