PAM Bulletin: Vol. 27 No. 4

PAMnet News

New APS Journal Pricing

Diane Fortner inspired a lengthy, lively and multi-thread discussion on journal pricing models when she posted an APS Press Release announcing their new journal pricing structure. According to APS, this pricing structure was devised to alleviate the "burden of support" currently felt by smaller schools. APS claims that the larger research institutions shifted the burden of support to smaller schools by benefiting from the elimination of page charges and the cancellation of multiple subscriptions. Through this new pricing structure, APS hopes to shift this burden back to the larger research institutions.

This new pricing structure also seems to be an attempt to convert institutions to "online access only," by offering incentives for doing so. To a great extent, smaller schools praised the new pricing structure, while larger institutions criticized it (although some larger institutions encouraged support for APS regardless).

This discussion led to further criticism of the current commercial model for journal pricing. Several librarians discussed other models, such as the author charges used by the New Journal of Physics (http://www.njp.org/). They also reminded us to inform and educate our users about the inevitable collapse of the current scholarly publishing model.

In the end, Michael Leach proposed a new forum within APS for physicists, astronomers, mathematicians and librarians to discuss "information creation, dissemination and use."

To enjoy this lively and very educational discussion, check out the following threads:

What Will Elsevier Think of Next?

Dana Roth provoked another lively discussion on journal pricing when she summarized Elsevier Science's new policy on journal pricing: "Starting with subscription year 2000 annual print price increases for the entire package of Elsevier Science journals will be under 10% in each of the company's invoicing currencies." Michael Kolman from Elsevier posted a reply, explaining the policy and Elsevier Science's goal of taking librarians' suggestions (criticisms) to heart. However, this reply (indeed the new policy itself) seemed woefully inadequate to some PAMnetters who criticized the historical and current levels of journal pricing. To follow this thread, visit:

ASTRO-PH

Posting the citation for an article in the 17 March 2000 issue of Science, Greg Youngen sparked a debate on e-prints and the arXiv (http://xxx.lanl.gov/). PAMnetters discussed the motivations scientists have for using this e-print archive. Some argued that scientists use e-prints to maintain a current awareness of research in their field, but others felt that many scientists use them to avoid being scooped.

Other posts reminded us PAMnetters that arXiv lacks a formal peer-review process. However, Mark Doyle from APS remarked that fear of widespread criticism probably prevents researchers from posting inaccurate or premature results. Not the same as a peer-review process, but a check nonetheless. What do you think of this issue? To read up on it, follow the thread at http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0003&L=pamnet#106

Improved Access Control for Elsevier

And then another discussion of Elsevier policy. Michael Kolman from Elsevier posted Elsevier's new policy on access control for e-journals. In a follow-up message, Bob Michaelson pointed out the limitations of this new policy, including the obstacles to library access it creates and the concern it causes regarding privacy issues. Carol Hutchinson reminded us that a similar mechanism for access control failed for Wiley. Interestingly enough, ScienceDirect does offer a "group-wide login" that allows library users to bypass personal registration. Will Elsevier expand this option to other users of their online journals? Or have they already, after seeing this discussion on PAMnet? To check out this discussion, read the following threads:

Softcover vs. Hardcover Books

Thanks go to Vickie Kearn for sparking a discussion on book formats, namely softcover vs. hardcover. Unfortunately, there seems to be little consensus among PAMnetters on this classic issue. Rob Atkinson posted his picks for the best and worst book bindings. Others recommended that libraries purchase softcover books as a cost-saving measure, a necessity for some libraries due to budget constraints. Dana Roth put forth the idea of sending softcover books to the bindery, although Matthew Marsteller pointed out that this "cuts into the peak usage time of the monograph." See http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0001&L=pamnet#40

The issue came up again when David Stern noted the extreme price differential for a certain Kluwer publication. With the softcover unavailable, it seems libraries will be forced to pay this differential if they need the title. Matthew Marsteller asked if PAM has a liaison relationship with Kluwer, to which Molly White replied, "No." But, she added, we are working on it. See http://listserv.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A1=ind0002&L=pamnet#82

Nature in an Unnatural State

George Porter sent to the list the notice that Caltech posted when they lost access to their online Nature titles during a server migration at the Nature Publishing Group. This inspired a litany of the problems librarians have encountered with Nature: poor communication, poor public relations, too many required passwords, the lack of site licenses with IP address validation. George Porter later returned to the list to inform us all that, as of Feb 24th, Nature had begun to publicize a site license option available in the second quarter of 2000. Check out the following threads:

Other interesting threads from the past quarter can be found in the PAMnet Discussion Archive at http://listserv.nd.edu/archives/pamnet.html

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Published by
Physics-Astronomy-Math Division of the Special Libraries Association
ISSN 1063-9136.