Rethinking electronic only subscriptions...

I never thought I'd say that. I love electronic. It's available 24/7, can be searched in a variety of ways, and doesn't require binding or storage. However, the past couple of weeks have been an eye opener for me.

Due to budget issues, we had to cancel many subscriptions. This led to a project to verify access information in in my a-z list and, of course, close out records in our OPAC. For a variety of reasons that shall not be mentioned in this post, there is no record in my OPAC for when the subscription went electronic only. I can gather this information for the most part from either the order record or the subscription vendor, but those records only go back three to five years. So, I've made use of the information available via the publishers admin interface, which in most cases is quite robust. What I discovered was that perpetual access to electronic only subscriptions, i.e. the ability to continue to access electronically my electronic subscriptions once I've canceled the subscription, varies widely from publisher to publisher. And, it's not good.

The problem here isn't with the large publishers (the Wiley's or the Elsevier's); it's with the academic presses and the societies. What many say - no access to electronic content once your subscription ceases. Several will send the content that my institution subscribed to on disc or another format of their choice or we can purchase the print backfiles at the current price. One publisher even requires that we purchase the disc or the print if we want what we subscribed to electronically. It's that simple. I understand this with an aggregated database, but was honestly surprised at the degree to which many publishers do not provide perpetual access to e-only subscriptions. With these publishers it's not an electronic subscription, it's a lease and I wish they would call it that. It is in the license agreement, unfortunately, these were switched to electronic several years ago and the process for license review then wasn't all that good. So, for some titles, we subscribed e-only for two to three years and now have nothing.

So, this leaves me with the question of whether I should have an e-only subscription to a title that will not give us perpetual access should we have to cancel it. It makes no sense to do print plus electronic, however, it doesn't make sense to "subscribe" to a journal and have nothing for it should it be canceled. If I subscribe to any title in electronic format, I expect some form of ownership to accompany it. In today's budget landscape, I can't in all good conscience recommend spending money on a e-only subscription for a title that I won't own, which means I'm left going with a print only subscription if I don't want duplicate formats. Which really doesn't provide the access my patrons want or the access we want to provide to the patrons. I'm not really sure what the answer is.

A long overdue follow-up from South Africa

Lions and tigers and LIBRARIANS? Oh My!

People-to-People works with ALA members to hold a professional library science delegation, at least yearly. As I blogged previously, I went with a delegation of 28 US librarians to South Africa in October. This nine day experience was a life changing event and if you ever get a chance to go on one of these Ambassador programs, go! The program not only afforded me the opportunity to interact with librarians from all types of libraries from all around the US but to also see librarianship in an international context.

The professional program was amazing. We visited a small community library in Soweto, where Nelson Mandela grew up. This library, being primarily funded by the US, was one of the only libraries that kept its doors open to EVERYONE through the apartheid years. We visited three different university libraries and a large public library. We experienced the Mae Jemison US Science Reading Room which was overflowing with students - meaning there was actually a line waiting to enter because it was smaller than use demanded. We saw the National Library of South Africa and visited with the National Librarian, the president of LIASA, and the new IFLA president.

Not all of our time was spent in professional endeavors, however! The program is designed to make sure that participants get an opportunity to experience the culture as well. I had the opportunity to visit Robben Island, the island prison for dangerous and political prisoners and the site of Nelson Mandela's incarceration. One evening we had dinner hosted at the home of a local family. We went on a tour of the Cape Peninsula and Cape Point in the Table Mountain National Park - the place at which legend claims the Atlantic and Indian oceans merge. We also saw the African penguin colony at Boulders Beach, home to the rare African penguin in its natural surroundings and enjoyed the immense Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. Lastly, some of took the opportunity to extend our trip for a three day safari. One free evening in Cape Town, I had the pleasure of meeting Alberta Mayberry (UNT IIS PhD '91) who is currently the Principal Officer at the U.S. Consulate in Cape Town, South Africa. It was amazing to learn about the international possibilities for graduates of our program. She and an amazing collection of her friends share dinner with me and before I knew it I was getting sage dissertation advice halfway around the world!

As a librarian, every time I go on vacation, I end up visiting a library. However, this trip I have deemed my Library vacation. I will be forever changed by seeing how appreciated libraries and librarians were, how information access was making a real-time difference in people's lives, and learning from those who've actually accomplished it that libraries can really be the heart of a free nation.

I'm such a geek...

So, this morning, I got email from ILLiad telling me that some of my items had arrived through Inter-library Loan. I went to pick them up and had 3 things instead of 2. One of which was a fed-ex package and had me puzzled. Well, I opened it up and apparently I had submitted a request for someone's dissertation on Cognitive Learning Styles in relationship to web-based learning. I didn't remember that.

I'm sitting here starting to read through it and I'm getting all giddy. So much so that I had to hop on here and write about it. (which if you've been following this blog a while you know I'm the slacker in writing articles) See, I have this 1st draft of a paper due Sunday at midnight that I've not been very diligent about -- and this piece is PERFECT!! It's such a shame that plagerism is frowned on because the lit review of this thing would be something I could pass in. Ah well, there's the ethical side of me I guess.

However, I'm certainly going to use the references list to ensure that I have the quintessential works I need to be able to craft my own masterpiece... (ok, a 20 pg paper is not a masterpiece, but it is going to be a MIRACLE)

Filling in someone else's shoes

My colleagues and I, to a lesser extent, having been adjusting to the death of a colleague these past 6 months. Most of my work team had many wonderful years working with her, as a co-worker and then as a manager. She established policies and procedures. She took the state to a new level of federal grant funding. She was well-known and loved around the state.

In August, I stepped into the position she held. While trying to get acclimated, I also attempt to fill the duties of my original position. Those duties have had me out of the office roughly 60% of the time since then. Unfortunately for my staff, my juggling skills have been less than adequate.

It has only been since the beginning of the year that I have felt that I am getting my sea legs. My work world has been a huge learning curve. It has been a struggle to get a time line of reports due, responsibilities expected, and just a standard work flow for the normal paperwork required. There are many standards we have to follow, many agencies we work with, and much political history to learn.

In the midst of all of this, there have been several occasions where "but we used to..." has surfaced, from many different levels - employees, upper management, other departments. I try regularly to listen to that feedback and see where it shows me expectations that I was not aware I had been missing. What has been a challenge is standing up when I am trying to lead in a new or different direction. I am a different person. I have a different management style. I have different ideas. I can't and won't ever be what my predecessor was. But, I strive every day to be the best ME I can be.