Sonya White

Authors’ Awareness and Attitudes Toward Open Access Repositories

This article investigates the awareness of scholarly authors toward open access repositories and the factors that motivate their use of these repositories. The article reports on the findings obtained from a mixed methods approach which involved a questionnaire returned by over 3000 respondents, supplemented by four focus groups held across Europe in the summer 2009. The research found that although there was a good understanding and appreciation of the ethos of open access in general, there were clear differences between scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds in their understanding of open access repositories and their motivations for depositing articles within them. This research forms the first part of a longitudinal study that will track the changing behaviors and attitudes of authors toward open access repositories.

Trends in journal prices : an analysis of selected journals, 2000-2006

This paper presents summary results from an analysis of the institutional subscription prices for journals in biomedical and social sciences, for a selection of 11 publishers. Overall price, price per page, and price per point of impact factor have been examined for the period 2000–2006. Considerable variation was found between publishers both in their overall levels of price and in the rates of increase observed over the period. There is some evidence that not‐for‐profit publishers may, on average, offer better value for money in terms of price per page and price per point of impact factor, but this is far from conclusive.

Simplifying serials sourcing

Purpose – To describe work by the Library and Information Statistics Unit (LISU) based at Loughborough University to support decision making by managers in academic information and library services in the UK in the realm of providing access to scholarly information through serials.Design/methodology/approach – A model was built against which to assess a series of propositions, or “deals”, from different publishers for electronic journals collections through the National Electronic Site Licence Initiative (NESLI). NESLI represented a fusion of the quantitative analysis of empirical data with the subjective assessment of a range of serials management factors and drew on the expertise and experience of LISUs team.Findings – The results informed negotiations between NESLI and publishers and revealed useful insights into the cooperative acquisition of electronic journals. Particularly noteworthy is the inherent difficulty in purchasing electronic journals cooperatively, as the larger institutions involved usu...

Performance measurement in a changing environment: The SCONUL e‐measures project 2010

Purpose: Increased use and changes in the way e-resources are delivered led some libraries to question the detail of some of the definitions used and particularly to suggest that statistics required by SCONUL did not always match the requirements or practice of the libraries themselves. The purpose of this paper is to explore a set of e-measures. Design/methodology/approach: A pilot project was set up to test a set of e-measures, sufficiently robust to give confidence in their use in a national/international context and in benchmarking individual libraries. A total of 20 SCONUL members made quarterly returns during 2009-10. During the year, categories and definitions were adjusted in the light of comments received. A workshop was held to exchange views and inform the decision on what went into the new return. Findings: It was clear from the start that practice varied, and compromise would be required. Foremost among the changes are: inclusion of e-resources held within databases in the count of titles; count of free titles or titles purchased in previous years; inclusion of database searches; separation of costs of different types of e-resource. Originality/value: The SCONUL statistics are a tool and servant of the members, helping libraries to run more effectively, and at the same time providing valuable evidence on UK academic libraries and their activities to the wider world. The new e-measures questions will provide a reliable picture of the use of e-resources across the sector and be useful to libraries individually or in benchmarking groups in assessing their own usage.