Electronic journal distribution: a prototype study
| Date | 01 April 1995 |
| Published date | 01 April 1995 |
| Pages | 313-316 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb045381 |
| Author | Robert Kimberley |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Article
Electronic journal distribution:
a prototype study
Robert Kimberley
Institute for Scientific information European
Branch,
Brunei Science
Park,
Brunei
University,
Uxbridge UB8
3PQ,
UK
Abstract: This paper discusses issues relating to the electronic distribution of
journals, in the context of the Electronic Library Project of
the
Institute for
Scientific Information
(ISI).
The
aim of the Project is to investigate a number of
variables relating to electronic journal
distribution,
including not merely
technical but also non-technical issues such as
financial,
copyright and social
aspects.
ISI, together with
IBM,
has begun to develop a prototype electronic document
storage management and distribution system for
the
electronic
library.
The
prototype will be installed at test sites in the
USA
and Europe starting in August
1995.
Test sites will include both academic and corporate
users.
IBM's
client/server design will enable ISI to manage a very large database (both
bibliographic and
full-text),
while allowing users to view the information
on
PCs
running widely-used operating systems. The interface used during the test will be
Lotus Notes. The paper describes how users will search the Current Contents
database, and
the
system will deliver full images of journal
articles
direct to the
researcher's desktop over
the
subscriber's
LAN.
The images will
be
available for
viewing or printing
immediately,
if the library has purchased an
electronic
subscription to the journal in question; otherwise, the article may be obtained
from the site's library or a document delivery supplier.
1.
Background
Information and communication tech-
nologies are creating a new industrial
revolution. As the hype of the Infor-
mation Superhighway starts to change
the day-to-day realities of scholarly
communication, researchers are press-
ing for more and more of their infor-
mation needs to be satisfied by
electronic delivery to their desktop,
while publishers are grappling with
the many contentious issues relating to
electronic publishing.
Electronic distribution of research
literature offers the potential for sig-
nificant gains by all parties involved.
However, these gains will be realised
only if the various parties in the infor-
mation chain — from the author, via
primary and secondary publishers
through to the library
and the
reader —
are all able to adapt to new ways of
delivering, acquiring and using the lit-
erature. ISI has undertaken
a
project to
develop practical solutions to some of
the difficulties encountered
in this
new
paradigm of the information distribu-
tion chain.
The purpose of the Electronic Li-
brary Project is to set up a prototype
which will allow publishers, librarians
and library users to investigate the
many variables involved in the elec-
tronic distribution of journals. It will
provide, at a minimum, the basic serv-
ices of
a
traditional print library at the
user's desktop. The prototype builds
on Current Contents/Life Sciences,
ISI's database which covers some
1350 journals and is widely used in a
variety of research environments. It
will link this secondary publication
with the primary literature which it in-
dexes:
where the publishers have
agreed, the system will deliver the
Current Contents database and the full
images of articles direct to the user.
The Electronic Library Project will
thus deliver to the user current, accu-
rate and consistent information; it will
provide for flexible and scalable sys-
tems which integrate seamlessly with
existing library environments and of-
fer cost-effective storage; and it will
allow a measured level of
access
con-
trol and security, guaranteeing the
authenticity of the information, help-
ing the
management of copyright com-
pliance and preventing abuse.
The specific variables which we
shall test during the Project are:
• the technical systems required to
support electronic journal
distribution (access, storage and
retrieval);
• the internal systems needed for
implementation of the electronic
library — including billing,
accounting and business
management reporting;
• the economic models which will
meet the needs of the publishing
and the user communities;
• the behaviour of
users,
to
determine how the electronic
journal may change traditional
purchasing and usage patterns.
A crucial step
in
moving toward the
Project was ISI's purchase in 1992 of
Crossaig Limited, a British company
which had developed highly advanced
imaging, OCR and indexing technol-
ogy specifically designed for the infor-
mation industry. This technology en-
abled ISI to start the conversion of its
American and European data-process-
ing operations from keyboarding to
scanning and imaging; and, as an ar-
The Electronic Library, Vol. 13, No. 4, August 1995 313
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