Win‐win‐win: can the evaluation and promotion of electronic journals bring benefits to library suppliers, information professionals and users?

Published date01 December 2000
Pages466-472
Date01 December 2000
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/01435120010347937
AuthorLinda Ashcroft
Subject MatterLibrary & information science
Win-win-win:
can the evaluation and
promotion of electronic
journals bring benefits
to library suppliers,
information
professionals and users?
Linda Ashcroft
Introduction
Promotion and evaluation were among the
issues raised by a recent study of electronic
journals in academic libraries (Ashcroft,
2000). In this new and fast-developing
environment, these particular issues bring
implications not only for information
professionals, but also for the suppliers of
these electronic products, particularly if
electronic journals are to fulfil their potential
in terms of meeting user needs. The study,
undertaken at Liverpool John Moores
University, set out to investigate, in the light
of the embracing of new technology by
library/information professionals, the
situation regarding the purchase of electronic
journals. Focusing on the usage of electronic
journals in higher education libraries in the
UK and North America, the research findings
were based on a literature review,
questionnaire surveys and a series of in-depth
follow-up interviews which identified
implications for both publishers and
librarians, including those of promotion and
evaluation. The research data and
percentages which follow relate to the
respondents' returns from this study. For the
purposes of the research a wide definition of
electronic journal was used, the intention
being to avoid limiting responses. This
working definition is: ``a journal, including
indexing and abstracting services, provided by
any electronic means, e.g. Internet, CD-
ROM, although not necessarily exclusively by
electronic means''.
Sweeney (1997, p. 9) comments that:
Electronic journals offer a solution to some of
the problems facing the management of the
academic journal today. They are space saving,
they enhance the speed of communication, they
provide powerful searching tools, they can
provide immediate access to your desk and they
can provide facilities such as integrated text,
hypertext links and multimedia that the printed
journal cannot offer.
The research study demonstrates that serials
librarians in higher education are well aware
of these benefits of electronic journals, as well
as voicing some reservations. Wilson (1998,
pp. 16-17) suggests:
The new information technologies and the new
knowledge transfer processes based upon those
technologies now offer libraries the opportunity
to review their processes and, indeed, require
them to do so.
The author
Linda Ashcroft is Senior Lecturer, Liverpool John Moores
University, Liverpool, UK.
Keywords
Electronic publishing, Promotion, Evaluation,
Academic libraries, United Kingdom, North America
Abstract
Focuses on the areas of promotion and evaluation,
discussing findings of a recent Liverpool-based study of
electronic journals in academic libraries in the UK and
North America. Traces the growth of electronic journals
and their impact on the role of information professionals.
Although information professionals have adapted to these
technical developments, there are indications from the
study that the transition is incomplete in the areas of
evaluation and promotion. As library staff are under-
resourced, suggests that library providers could assist by
supplying relevant user statistics and by passing on the
benefits of their own marketing expertise and
promotional literature.
Electronic access
The research register for this journal is available at
http://www.mcbup.com/research_registers/lm.asp
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emerald-library.com
466
Library Management
Volume 21 .Number 9 .2000 .pp. 466±471
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0143-5124

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