DOCUMENT RESUME ED 428 761 IR 057 302 AUTHOR Barrett, G. Jaia, Ed. TITLE ARL: A Bimonthly Newsletter of Research Library Issues and Actions, 1998. INSTITUTION Association of Research Libraries, Washington, DC. ISSN ISSN-1050-6098 PUB DATE 1998-00-00 NOTE 106p.; For the 1997 issues, see ED 416 902. AVAILABLE FROM Association of Research Libraries, 21 Dupont Circle, Washington, DC 20036 (members $25/year for additional subscription; nonmembers $40/year). PUB TYPE Collected Works - Serials (022) JOURNAL CIT ARL; n196-201 Feb 1998-Dec 1998 EDRS PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Academic Libraries; Competition; Copyrights; Document Delivery; Electronic Journals; Electronic Text; Higher Education; Information Industry; Information Policy; *Information Services; Interlibrary Loans; Measurement Techniques; Newsletters; *Research Libraries; Scholarly Journals IDENTIFIERS *Association of Research Libraries; Digitizing; Library of Congress; License Agreements; Performance Levels ABSTRACT This document consists of six issues of the ARL (Association of Research Libraries) Newsletter, covering the year 1998. Each issue of the newsletter includes some or all of the following sections: "Current Issues," reports from the Coalition for Networked Information and the Office of Scholarly Communication, Office of Leadership and Management Services (formerly the Office of Management Services), and Coalition for Networked Information, "Preservation," "Federal Relations," "Statistics and Measurement," "Diversity," "ARL Activities," and calendar of events. One special issue on measures (April 1998) focuses on the issues and activities in the area of performance measurement in research libraries. The second special issue on journals (October 1998) discusses views of thecurrent marketplace for scholarly journals, including what publisher profits reveal about competition in scholarly publishing, value and estimatedrevenue of scientific/technical journals, and non-commercial alternatives to scholarly communication. Topics of other issues include the Scholarly Publishing& Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC); the Dublin Core Metadata Program; E-information policies; an update on Uniform Commercial Code Article 2B; high-performing interlibrary loan/document delivery operations; library director evaluation; salaries in research libraries; university funding for research libraries; collaboration on reduced-cost journals; the Library of Congress mass deacidification program; the Digital Millennium Copyright Act; access management for networked information; and electronic theses and dissertations. (AEF) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** ARL: A Bimonthly Newsletter of Research Library Issues and Actions Nos. 196-201 February-December 1998 G. Jaia Barrett Editor U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) 0 This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization C.A. Mandel originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. 2 Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES official OERI position or policy. INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." FL mEn A BIMONTHLY NEWSLETTER OF RESEARCH LIBRARY ISSUESAND ACTIONS Current Issues ARL PROMOTES COMPETITIONTHROUGH SPARC: THE SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING & ACADEMIC RESOURCESCOALITION by Mary M. Case, Director, ARL Office of Scholarly Communication The system of scholarly publishing is a SPARC is conceived as a partnership project complex process that is centered on the of ARL and other educational and research orga- intellectual property of the faculty author. nizations. Its mission is to be a catalyst: Until recently, it was routine for faculty in the To create a more competitive marketplace for process of publishing to transfer the copyright of research information by providing this property to a publisher. The intellectual opportunities for new publishing ventures, r-4 property and the attendant rights form the eco- endorsing new publications and information nomic basis of a publisher's investment. For products, and recruiting authors, editors, and many generations, this system, dominated pri- advisory board members. marily by scholarly societies and university press- To promote academic values of access to es, appeared to serve authors, publishers, and the information for research and teaching, the education and research community well. During continuation of fair use and other library and the 1960s, however, these traditional outlets could educational uses in an electronic information not expand fast enough to provide the increased environment, and the ethical use of scholarly capacity for publishing generated by a system of information. higher education that was rapidly expanding. To encourage innovative uses of technology to Commercial publishers stepped in to fill the need. improve scholarly communication by Some of these publishers discovered that journal collaborating in the design and testing of new publishing, especially in science, technology, and products; advancing new publishing models medicine, could be very lucrative. A few have as appropriate applications of electronic exploited the market and are doing everything networks, such as Internet2; and developing they can to ensure future profits through aggres- systems and standards for the archiving and sive pricing strategies, publisher consolidation, management of research findings. and influencing legislation to ensure greater Marketplace Trends intellectual property protection. Most faculty and librarians are now very familiar One key strategy in counteracting these with the annual cycle of serials cancellations in trends toward higher prices is to provide addi- academic and research libraries. What has also tional prestigious and cost-based outlets for the become clear is that the cancellation projects are best faculty work. To this end, ARL recently not one-time adjustments to local circumstances, approved the development of a project called but manifestations of a marketplace that is pricing SPARCScholarly Publishing & Academic some resources beyond the reach of the educa- Resources Coalitiona project that seeks to tional community. Over the past decade, ARL encourage the development of competition in statistics show that research library expenditures the scholarly publishing marketplace. for serials have increased almost 10% a year and 9EST CuPY AVAILABLL- 3 CURRENT ISSUES Continued -------- that the unit cost of a serial title has increased by 147%. £3,400 million ($5.7 billion). The net operating expenses Since 1986, while ARL libraries have canceled hundreds are £1,248 million (or $2.1 billion). This appears to be a of thousands of dollars worth of journals, they have fairly substantial margin (£834 million or $1.4 billion). spent 124% more on serials to purchase 7% fewer titles. After taxes, £604 million (or approximately $1 billion) is During the same period, expenditures on monographs left to pay out dividends to shareholders (£348 million) have increased 29% and ARL libraries have purchased and to transfer funds to reserve (£256 million). The 21% fewer titles. statement at the bottom of the report notes: "The While some price increases can be justified by the historical cost profits and losses are not materially increase in numbers of pages and articles included with- different from the results disclosed above." in a volume to accommodate the increased output of Elsevier Science, an international publisher of scien- faculty, there is evidence to suggest that some commer- tific information headquartered in the Netherlands, is cial publishers charge prices that significantly exceed one of the several publishing companies owned by Reed the costs of production. In 1989, Economic Consulting Elsevier. Preliminary analysis of figures recently gath- Services, Inc. (ECS) concluded an analysis for ARL of ered by ARL shows that, on average, an ARL library the trends in average subscription prices and publica- spends almost $628,000 dollars a year with Elsevier tion costs over time. The analysis focused on over 100 Science to obtain 378 titles. That is 3.5% of the serials titles published by four major publishers in the U.S. and titles subscribed to by a library but almost 21% of the Europe. The result of the ECS report found that from annual serials expenditures. Extrapolating from these 1973-1987, publisher profits increased between 40% and averages, the 121 ARL libraries spend over $75 million a 137%. The results also indicate that the cost increases year on Elsevier Science titles. This is a significant por- faced by these publishers did not fully justify the price tion of U.S. and Canadian research library materials increases paid by research libraries. budgets going to one company. One of the most profitable scholarly publishers is To illustrate, Elsevier Science publishes some of the Reed Elsevier, one of the world's largest publishing most expensive serials subscribed to by research and information companies, located in the United libraries. The accompanying table provides a sample of Kingdom. Its 1996 Combined Profit and Loss Statement these journal titles and the increases in their subscrip-