Pergamon Library Acquisitions: Practice & Theory, Voi. 20, No. 4, pp. 475-482, 1996

Copyright © 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All tights reserved

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C O N F E R E N C E R E P O R T

UNITED KINGDOM SERIALS GROUP: 19TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION

Keele University, Staffordshire, England, UK, 15-17 April 1996

TONY KIDD

Head of Serials

Glasgow University Library

Hillhead Street

Glasgow GI2 8QE, Scotland, UK

Intemet: t.kidd@lib.gla.ae.uk

Keywords - - Site licences, Electronic journals, Copyright, Citation analysis

Keele University in Staffordshire in the English Midlands was the site of the 19th UK Serials Group (UKSG) Conference. Almost 400 delegates attended, representing libraries, publishers, subscription agents, and others connected with the serials industry. This was about a 10% increase on the previous year, indicating both the vitality of the industry, and also perhaps the nervousness, in a lime of rapid change, of participants, eager to exchange experiences and benefit from any guidance on future devel- opments. Delegates traveled from several countries in addition to the UK and Ireland, including Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and the USA.

The UKSG launched its Web pages at the Conference, and a very full selection of information relevant to the serials world is available at http:llepip.lboro.ac.ukluksglloltext.htm. The exhibition was, as usual, a vital part of the proceedings, with about 25 companies present. Many interesting demonstrations were given and much useful business was transacted at the exhibitors' stands, staffed by subscription agents, publishers, and other companies. In addition to the serious business of the conference, delegates found time to enjoy themselves in a variety of ways, including attend- ing the Conference Dinner, and taking part in a trivia quiz, a barn dance, and at least two discos. Next year's 20th conference is at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, from 7-10 April 1997.

What role for libraries in the electronic landscape? - - Allan Foster, Director of Information Services, Keele University

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This paper assessed the prospect for libraries in an increasingly digital world, pondering the impact of societal factors such as the demand for information (and entertainment) services ordered and delivered directly to the end-user. Foster also discussed how financially hard pressed public sector libraries can carve out a new role for themselves and avoid being seen as just marginalised print warehouses; how the pattern of new information media will change in the near and medium term future and how libraries can plan to embrace these technologies; and whether converged libraries, media and computing services will help to deliver effective services to customers. [The reporter was unfortunately unable to attend this introductory session, and these notes axe adapted from the abstracts of papers provided at the Conference].

Pilot Site Licence Scheme This controversial new development proved to be one of the dominant themes of the confer-

ence. Individual papers are summarised below, but, for a North American audience, some back- ground information may be useful. Universities in the United Kingdom receive a large, but declining, proportion of their income from the Government via Funding Councils: there is one each for England, Scotland, Wales and (in a rather different form) Northern Ireland. These Councils distribute most of their grant to individual universities, but they can and do "top-slice" a proportion of what is available for national projects deemed to benefit the higher education sector as a whole.

As one of these projects, the Councils decided in 1995 to run a three-year pilot scheme with Academic Press, Blackwell Publishers, and Institute of Physics Publishing (selected after negotia- tion from a wider group of publishers that had expressed initial interest). The scheme alms to com- bat escalating journal prices; to investigate new copyright mechanisms; and to stimulate interest in and use of electronic journals. Briefly, each of the participating publishers is supplying their print journals at a 30-40% discount over the three-year period (1996 to 1998) to UK higher education institutions; each publisher is limiting copyright restrictions by, for example, allowing copying of articles from their journals for study packs for the institutions' students; and each publisher has already, or will shortly, be providing free-of-charge electronic versions of their journals (although, in some cases, free access will be restricted to journals for which an institution already subscribes to a print copy). The Funding Councils and the publishers have in effect negotiated a national higher education "site licence," with the Councils funding most of the price discounts, and the publishers investing in electronic provision.

The pilot site licence: The Hew from HEFCE - - Bahram Bekhradnia, Director of Policy, Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

Bekhradnia was heavily involved in setting up and negotiating the site licence scheme. He described some of the pitfalls experienced along the way, but felt that the project had many poten- tial benefits. He expressed some surprise at the initial suspicion with which some librarians had viewed the scheme. Some of this suspicion related to practical questions of timing, etc., but there was also a feeling in some quarters that the pilot site licence was upholding the existing "corrupt" and in the long-term unsustainable system, where annual journal price rises of 10% or more were the norm. He said that proper evaluation of the pilot was essential, and that a group of publishers, librarians, subscription agents, and Funding Council staff (but not library users?) was being set up for this. One of the concerns over the project relates to what happens at the end of the three-year

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period: at this early stage, Bekhradnia was unable to shed much light on this, but did think it unlike- ly that the Funding Councils would wish to continue paying for the scheme from central resources.

The pilot site licence: Is it guiding libraries away f rom disaster on the rocks o f price rises? - - Fred Friend, Librarian, University College, University of London

Friend is a prominent figure querying journal price rises in the UK and overseas. He began by reciting the familiar journal inflation statistics, e.g., in the 11 years to 1991/92, journal pri~es rose by 300% while the Retail Prices Index increased by only 71%. He felt that only a complete change in the nature and culture of scholarly communication would suffice to overcome the crisis, men- tioning one or two straws in the wind, such as the UK Funding Councils decision to limit the num- ber of articles submitted by academic staff during the Research Assessment Exercise (which plays an important role in the funding received by individual universities). He did welcome the site licence scheme, if only because it encouraged partnership, not conflict, between publishers and libraries. However, he put the financial savings in context by calculating that the discounts amounted to about 25% of the increase in journal subscriptions that University College would be paying this year. He felt that electronic journals were taking too long to come to market, and were not influencing prices at this stage, although in the medium term electronic access might be a means toward the required restructuring of scholarly communication.

Site licensing and the role o f the agent - - John Merriman, Association of Subscription Agents

Well known in the serials world on both sides of the Atlantic, though now retired from Blackwells, Merriman retains his connections in this area through his role as Secretary of the Association of Subscription Agents, together with links with the UK Serials Group. He gave a concise and witty talk, giving a subscription agent's view of the site licence scheme. His main complaint concerned the lack of liaison and the unfortunate timing of the introduction of the scheme. Agents need accu- rate pricing for the following year's subscriptions by the end of July, but the official press release on the scheme was not issued by the Funding Councils until August 31, and detailed information from publishers was not available until late September or October. He finished his paper by stress- ing the role of the subscription agent in the future world of the electronic journal, with agents con- tinuing their traditional task of negotiating with many different publishers on behalf of libraries.

Site lleences: A new economic paradigm - - Rent Olivieri, Managing Director, Blackwell Publishers

Following papers from a subscription agent, a librarian, and the Funding Councils, this fascinating paper was the publisher's contribution. Olivieri, an International Relations (specialising in Economics) graduate from Johns Hopkins, took a broader, more theoretical look at site licenses, rather than discuss in much detail Blackwell's experiences with the UK higher education site licence. Olivieri took us back to economic theory, showing us graphs that attempted to explain the price rise/cancellations vicious circle that has characterised the serials world for at least the last decade. The basic problem, according to Olivieri, is inelastic demand, at least as viewed by the individual

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publisher. In other words, although price rises may lead to cancellations overall, this does not appear, so far, to operate at the individual journal or publisher level (except perhaps for some publishers who increase journal prices at a rate well above the industry average). Crudely, the publisher might as well increase his journal prices by the "going rate" of 10%: If prices are increased by "only" 5%, there is tittle evidence that this will lead to fewer cancellations, or more new orders. This depressing state of affairs is especially true for print journals, but Oiivieri felt that electronic journals might encourage different behaviour. Electronic journals have high start-up costs, but much lower "addi- tional copy" costs than print journals - - they have a low marginal cost, to use the economics term. In this case, although demand may still be inelastic, there is more incentive for publishers to reduce prices or increase them at a lower rate, because even a relatively small increase in subscriptions will still benefit them substantially, as a result of the low marginal costs incurred in producing extra copies. It remains to be seen whether this theoretical analysis will bear fruit in practice!

Olivieri trmished by extolling the virtues of site licences - - they consist of a single transaction, appeared to be fair, were predictable and renewable, etc., - - and speculating on variations in site licence prices according to number of students, the size of the site, and other variables. He felt that publishers would prefer the use of site licence contracts, rather than rely on copyright, "because copyright law is a quagmire."

Research and scholarly communication: Intellectual property and the flow of information -- Toby Bainton, Secretary, Standing Conference of National and University Libraries (SCONUL)

SCONUL is the umbrella body for university and national libraries in the UK, and has an important influence on the development of library policy. Bainton began by speculating on the future of the journal, beset on the one hand by the familiar funding crisis, and perhaps about to be rendered obso- lete in any case by the advent of e-mail, the Internet and the World Wide Web. Like other speakers, he felt that radical developments depended on institutional and cultural change. At present, authors still had to publish, in order to achieve promotion, maintain the regard of their peers, etc. Howev~ he wondered whether new relationships with publishers were on the way, with universities, for example, retaining copyright and electronic distribution rights on articles submitted by their staff. Researchers might declare complete independence from traditional publishers, by setting up new journals financed by page charges, as advocated by Steven Hamad and others. Despite these possibilities, Bainton ended by emphasising the importance of prestige as one of the main preserving agents of the present system. In each subject area, there is a definite hierarchy of journals, with researchers s~ving to pub- lish in the most prestigious, and it is by no means clear how to move away from this status qno.

T h e c o m m o n sense o f copyr ight - - Bernard Donovan, Secretary-General, Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers

Donovan presented the publishers' case on copyright, speaking against the view that publishers' ownership of copyright represents value "stolen" from academic researchers. He emphasised the role of publishers in adding value by editing and disseminating scientific papers, and exercising quality control by maintaining peer review. He discussed the expense of launching electronic prod- ucts, talked of the small margins maintained by (learned society) publishers (although there is also a view that society publishers do make reasonable profits, which are used to finance or subsidise

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other society activities) and felt that university presses would, or do, face the same costs as society publishers. Donovan criticised the "Hamad model" of relying on page charges to finance free-to- the-user electronic journals, saying that this would lead to publication of research from staff from well-off universities or countries, and discrimination against research from other sources.

Do citations count? Citation indexing, impact factors and research assessment - - Charles Oppenheim, Professor of Electronic Library Research, De Monffort University

Oppenheim's entertaining paper took us back to 1275, when the idea of the importance of citing previous legal cases was introduced during the reign of Edward I, King of England. The use of citation counting to measure, in some way, the importance of scientific papers or of particular researchers has been in existence for a hundred years, facilitated in recent years by ISI's Citation Indexes and Journal Citation Reports. Oppenheim listed some of the reasons for citing a p a p e r - homage to a mentor; credit for an idea or a methodology; criticism of a paper; corroboration. There were also less respectable reasons for citation, for example citing papers written by those expected to referee your article. Oppenheim admitted that his first action on refereeing a paper was always to check whether any of his own papers had been cited. Selective citation and self-citation were also common, while ISI's procedures, for example, not differentiating between the many authors called Smith J., led to further problems with citation analysis.

Despite these drawbacks, there was a very strong correlation between a scientist's citation record, and his or her "eminence," however this was measured. Work done on comparing gradings assigned to UK university departments as a result of the previous Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) with citation analysis of staff in these departments also showed a very strong positive cor- relation. This led Oppenheim to conclude that this was either further evidence of the reliability of citation counting; or on the other hand that this was an indication that citation counting should be used as a cheap alternative to the very costly process of carrying out the RAE.

Exploiting your serials: Perspectives f rom a new building - - Peter Stubley, Sub-Librarian (Engineering and Management), University of Sheffield

Stubley outlined the methods used in the new St. George's Library at Sheffield University, covering engineering and management, to promote the use of serials, including the provision of current issues close to the building entrance, close also to comfortable chairs allowing easy consultation of new issues. Current awareness services and selective dissemination of information were also important, to maximise use of these very expensive resources. While electronic journals raised the enticing prospect of researchers having all this information on their desktops, a challenge for the future was to recreate, or improve, the browsing function which was a very important aspect of the use of printed journals.

Electronic journals in the e I ~ Programme - - Chris Rusbridge, Electronic Libraries Programme

The Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib), supported by the Higher Education Funding Councils, was set up through the Follett Implementation Group for Information Technology (F[GIT), itself a

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product of the Follett Report on the future of libraries, which has been extremely influential in the development of, and funding provision for, UK higher education libraries in the last two or three years. Rusbridge directs eLib, providing pump-priming and research funding for every aspect of the electronic library. This talk concentrated on eLib's electronic journal projects, among which are CLIC (chemistry: added multimedia value, parallel print and electronic publication); SuperJournal (21 STM publishers, 8-9 libraries: interface design, nature of use of ejournals); Institute for Historical Research (simple email journals); Internet Archaeology (new journal, multi- media, database links); Sociological Research Online; JILT: Journal of Information Law and Technology; Open Journal Framework (six learned societies, providing links outside the journal article to other articles, databases, etc); Formations (theatre studies: new journal, grey literature, open peer review); and various others. Details of all eLib projects, including electronic journal projects, are available at http://ukoln.bath.ac.uldelib/.

Each project has its own special concerns, but several themes are emerging that are common to all or several projects. Examples are the sustainability of ejournais, the costs and desirability of par- ailel publishing, the costs of multimedia, who will pay (authors via page charges, learned societies, readers paying per view/per article/per year; libraries via site licences, etc.), how are issues deliv- ered, are there alternatives to the Web, quality control e.g., how should refereeing operate, archiving and revisions, who hosts ejoumals e.g., mirroring/caching, cataloguing, copyright, etc. Rusbridge stressed the excitement of working in this area of rapid change, with the possibility of having a real influence on the development of completely new ways of generating and distributing scholarship.

The Journal of Buddhist Ethics: An online journal - - Damien Keown, Department of Historical and Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths College

As well as being the editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of Buddhist Ethics, a new electronic jour- nal with no print equivalent, Keown owns the well-known HyperJoumal email discussion list, with associated Web pages, covering issues relating to scholarly electronic journal publishing. He described the mechanics of setting up and running JBE, which began in July 1994, and was, he said, at the "low-tech" end of electronic journals, though using Acrobat. The journal was about the same length as many other humanities rifles, but would have probably not been viable, with a small sub- scriber base, as a printed journal. On the other hand, about half of the 800 "subscribers" to the (free) electronic version said that they would be willing to pay $20 annual subscription. The average time from submission to publication was six to eight weeks. Keown felt that to develop the journal fur- ther, it would be necessary to employ someone, thus raising the question of revenue generation. This may turn out to be a common problem for many of the successful free electronic journals.

Learned societies, publ i sh ing a n d electronic journals - - Alan Singleton, Institute of Physics Publishing

Singleton began by contrasting the scale of most humanities journals, such as the Journal of Buddhist Ethics, with that of large STM publishing enterprises: the Institute of Physics, for exam- ple, receives about ten thousand manuscripts each year. He ran through current ejournal develop- ments from some of the major learned societies, such as the American Institute of Physics (AIP), American Physical Society (APS), American Astronomical Society (AAS), American Medical

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Association (AMA), American Mathematical Society (AMS), Institution of Electrical Engineers (IF~), Institution of Mechanical Engineers 0MechE), and the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). Almost without exception, these large societies now had extensive Web sites, which should be vis- ited to discover the current fast-changing state of play. Turning to look at the Institute of Physics' (IoP's) experience in more detail, he noted that job announcements were always among the most frequently visited Web pages. Electronic versions of IoP print journals are now freely available to users at sites that subscribe to the print copy, and so far most academics choose to go to the same individual titles. For security, IoP makes use of both password access and IP registration. Singleton reminded us that Internet access was still problematic in many parts of the world, and that slow speeds could still cause frustration everywhere. Nevertheless, he looked forward to future develop- ments - - hyperlinking, multimedia - - with electronic journals, and felt that learned societies would continue to push forward in this area.

Journals of the future: Orderly shelves versus networked information - - Howard Nicholson, University Librarian, University of Bath

Like other speakers, Nicholson rehearsed the melancholy facts of serials inflation (at Bath, book prices had increased by 20% over last three years, journal prices by 57%, with an average journal price of £277, ranging from £76 in Modem Languages to £940 in Chemistry). He cited the well- known case of the Stevens Institute in New York, cancelling almost all its printed journal subscrip- tions, relying heavily on document delivery. Again like other speakers, he felt that the whole nature of scholarly communication was changing, towards more interactivity, and towards smaller "units" of information (perhaps paragraphs or even sentences), requiring more full text indexing. Nicholson listed differences between printed and electronic journals (e.g., ejournals are easier to revise, more interactive, capable of providing more added value through graphics and full text indexing). He also discussed differences at the library management level (e.g., different pricing models, archiving questions, availability of management information) and finished with the opti- mistic prediction that moves towards electronic communication provided a "basis for great improvements in the effectiveness and efficiency of our scholarly communications."

Disasters in libraries: Lessons from Norwich, guidelines from Loughborough - - David Hayman, Norfolk Library and Information Services; Graham Matthews, Loughborough University

The final paper at UKSG Conferences is traditionally on a rather different subject from all the other contributions, and this paper described the disastrous fire at Norwich Central Library on August 1, 1994, which destroyed the library building and large parts of the stock, including much irreplaceable archive and local history material. Hayman, brought in to take charge of disaster recovery, showed many slides that sent shivers down the spine of those present, and went through the steps taken to bring order, surprisingly quickly, into a chaotic situation. Matthews, a lecturer in information and library studies at Loughborough, has been working on guidelines on disaster management for librarians, shortly to be published by the British Library. He took the partici- pants through the four stages of disaster management: prevention (risk assessment, maintenance, etc.), preparedness (formal plans, training, emergency equipment, etc.), reaction to the disaster, and recovery.

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Product reviews Space was made in the conference programme for two product review sessions, where a ten-

minute slot was available to companies who wished to give brief information on new products and services. The following took advantage of this:

Elsevier Science (Tetrahedron Alert) Bowker-Saur (Global Books in Print - - Windows) Data Trek ( GLAS serials module) Swets (Swets Electronic Library Service) ITP Journals (Online journals and NeuroCite) EBSCO (EBSCODoc Alert. t) British Library (British Library DiSCovery) Riley Duma & Wilson (Modern methods of binding serials) Chadwyck-Healey ( CD-ROMs/client-server/Internet) BIDS (STeaMline) Blackwells ( CD-ROM and electronic services) UMI (ProQuest Direct TM) RoweCom (Subscribe)

Workshops Workshops are now a traditional part of the UKSG Annual Conference, and each delegate has

the opportunity to attend two hour-long workshops. This year, workshops were offered on:

Serials cataloguing Periodical price indices Measuring journals usage Training for serials EDI The claims triangle Current awareness for corporate libraries Consolidation services Serials sources on the Internet Setting up a WWW home page