The Future Ain’t What It Used To Be UKSG Conference 2004 and Exhibition Manchester, UK 29 March 2004

2 Mission JSTOR is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community take advantage of the advances in information technology. This includes: (1) building a reliable and comprehensive archive of core scholarly journals, and (2) dramatically improving access to this scholarly material. In pursuing its mission, JSTOR takes a system-wide perspective, seeking benefits for libraries, publishers and scholars

3 Faculty Survey  Faculty only – This was not a survey of graduate students or undergraduate students. – How might student (or librarian) responses vary from the responses of faculty?  US only – We were unable to include faculty from other countries – How might responses from UK faculty differ from the US-specific findings?  Colleges and universities that grant the Bachelor’s Degree or higher – We did not include community colleges. [Surveys] are like bikinis. What they reveal is interesting, but what they conceal is essential - Kenneth Boulding

4 Disciplines Included  Area Studies – African Studies, African-American Studies, American Studies, Asian Studies, India Studies, Latin American Studies, Middle East Studies, Slavic Studies  Humanities – Classical Studies, History of Art, History or History of Science, Languages, Linguistics, Literature, Music, Philosophy, Theater and Drama  Social Sciences – Anthropology, Archaeology, Architecture, Business or Finance, Economics, Education, Law, Political Science, Population or Demography, Psychology, Sociology  Sciences – Biology, Botany, or Ecology, Geography, Mathematics or Statistics, Physical Sciences, Public Health or Epidemiology

5 Mailing and Response  Within these disciplines, a list of all faculty was created.  Sample was chosen by random selection from this list.  44,060 professors were sent a questionnaire (as compared with 32,670 in 2000).  Total of 7,403 completed surveys received (as compared with 4,220 in 2000).  Overall response rate of 16.8% (as compared with 13% in 2000)

Information Resources in General: The Role of the Library

7 Starting Point for Research Below are four possible starting points for academic research. Typically, when you are conducting academic research, which of these four starting points do you use to begin locating information for your research? 1.The library building 2.A general-purpose search engine on the Internet or World Wide Web, such as Yahoo or Google 3.Your online library catalog 4.A specific electronic research resource or computer database

8 The Google-Effect on Faculty?

9 Starting Point for Research

10 Value of Library Functions “How important is it to you that your library provides each of the following functions?”  The library is a starting point or “gateway” for locating information for my research.  The library pays for resources I need, from academic journals to books to electronic databases.  The library is a repository of resources – in other words, it archives, preserves, and keeps track of resources.

11 Library Functions Valued by Faculty “How important is it to you that your library provides each of the following functions?” Percent rating each function as ‘very important’

12 Library Functions Valued by Faculty “How important is it to you that your library provides each of the following functions?” Percent rating each function as ‘very important’

13 Library Functions Valued by Faculty “How important is it to you that your library provides each of the following functions?” Percent rating each function as ‘very important’

14 Differences by Discipline Grouping “How important is it to you that your library provides each of the following functions?” Percent rating each function as ‘very important’

15 Dependence on Your Library “How dependent would you say you are on your college or university library for the research you conduct”

16 Dependence Varies by Institution Size Degree of dependence on your college or university library for your research

17 But Relatively Little By Discipline Degree of dependence on your college or university library for your research

18 Degree of Dependence: 2000 vs The future will be like the past, because in the past, the future was like the past

19 And Is Expected to Continue to Decrease Degree of dependence on your college or university library for your research

Information Resources in General: Hard-Copy Collections

21 Hard-Copy Collections Are Not Expected To Gain In Popularity “The act of searching through hard-copy collections is much too time-consuming and onerous. I would welcome access to new tools”

22 Huh? “A substantial problem for me is that journal articles that I need are sometimes not available at my university or in my locale and I have to get them from another source”

23 Perhaps Because of Hard-Copy Cancellations? “In the past 2 years, has your college or university library cancelled its subscription to the print version of any journal in which you are interested?”

Information Resources in General: Electronic Resources

25 Usage of E-resources Varies Significantly By Discipline Number of times you have used computer-based electronic resources in the past year

26 Even Within the Humanities Number of times you have used computer-based electronic resources in the past year

27 Electronic Resources Have Gained in Importance “Electronic research resources are invaluable research tools”

28 And Dependence is Expected to Increase I will become increasingly dependent on electronic research resources in the future

Electronic Archiving

30 Archiving “Preserving and protecting access to a collection of scholarly literature in perpetuity, without regard for how frequently or infrequently these materials are being read.”

31 Importance of Archiving is Widely Recognized

32 Electronic Archiving is Growing in Importance “With more and more journals becoming available electronically, it is crucial that libraries, publishers, or electronic databases archive, catalog, and protect these electronic journals.”

33 Electronic Archiving is Growing in Importance Importance of Long-Term Preservation of Electronic Journals

34 Those Who Don’t Know and Those Who Don’t Know They Don’t Know Satisfaction With The Way Electronic Journals Are Being Preserved For The Long Term

Shelf Space and Paper Repositories

36 Paper Repositories are Clearly Desired “Regardless of How Reliable and Safe Electronic Collections of Journals May Be, It Will Always Be Crucial for Some Libraries to Maintain Hard-Copy Collections of Journals”

37 But Local Solutions May Be Needed As Well “Regardless of How Reliable and Safe Electronic Collections of Journals May Be, It Will Always Be Crucial for My Library to Maintain Hard-Copy Collections of Journals”

38 Value Varies By Discipline Regardless of How Reliable and Safe Electronic Collections of Journals May Be, It Will Always Be Crucial that Hard-Copy Collections of Journals Be Maintained by …

Conclusions

40 Conclusions: Access to Resources  Electronic resources continue to be important to faculty.  Scientists use electronic resources more than other faculty, but there is significant disciplinary variation even within the humanities.  The library “gateway” role is more important to humanists than to other faculty. For scientists, electronic resources are the starting-point for research.

41 Conclusions: Archiving  Electronic archiving is important to all.  Most faculty want to see hard-copies retained somewhere; but many continue to call for local retention.  Even stronger affinity for archiving in the larger universities than in the smaller institutions.  The importance of the library’s archiving function has, as was anticipated, declined somewhat, and is expected to decline further.

There are three types of people in the world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who don’t know what hit them. Bruce Heterick