Abstract

Alice Keller
Oxford University Libraries, Oxford, UK

The Disincentive of E-only

The benefits of e-only are easily obscured by the way journal economics are presented to libraries and decision makers. Scholarly journal economics are highly complex, especially when applied to a multi-layered or decentralised library service.
Using the example of Oxford University, this presentation shows the difficulties senior library management is faced with when trying to convince the libraries and academic community of the benefits of moving to e-only.
The situation at Oxford University is complicated by the different administrative and managerial status of university and college libraries. Whilst licences cover all libraries in university departments and colleges, collection management and budget control are not centralised. Business models of journal publishers are ill-fitted to take such situations into account.
Every university library will have its own issues convincing readers of the benefits and adequacy of e-only access and the fact that publishers’ deals often ignore these particularities is particularly frustrating.
Publishers and libraries should cooperate better to convince academia, funding bodies and readers of the benefits of e-only. The presentation makes some tentative recommendations how this could be achieved.