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Bottles for Old Wine? California State University Initiates an Electronic
Core Journals Collection by Leigh Watson Healy The California State University libraries have operated a consortium for more than 10 years, with a focus on building systemwide access to electronic resources to support the CSU core curriculum and distance learning. The consortium's Electronic Access Committee makes recommendations to CSU campus libraries based on a clearly defined set of guidelines for the acquisition of electronic resources. Through CSU's consortial licensing activities, students and faculty already have access to a wide array of resources, including numerous full-text and bibliographic databases, such as LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe, Project Muse, JSTOR and much more. With the technology infrastructure and many information tools already available to users, CSU libraries now are breaking new ground with the Journal Access Core Collection (JACC) initiative. While the consortial licensing activities focus on providing access to electronic journals in high demand, the JACC enables CSU libraries to address for the first time the demand for print journals collections in a cooperative acquisitions project. What is the JACC? Together, the California State University libraries are examining how they buy journals to support CSU systemwide common curriculum. Through the JACC project, CSU's libraries are testing a new model for offering their most heavily used journals to all CSU users on the Web in the hope of initiating changes in how publishers -- and the aggregators who distribute journals in print and electronic formats -- package and license electronic journals for libraries and consortia. Each CSU campus library carries out its own collection development programs to support unique curriculum requirements locally, and each library subscribes to the core and peripheral journal collection needed to support its users. But because a CSU-common curriculum is the foundation of learning on each campus, there is a natural overlap in the journal subscriptions maintained by the libraries to support the everyday needs of their users. An analysis of the print journals to which at least 15 CSU campus libraries subscribe revealed 1,279 journal titles that then formed the basis for the JACC. When the state legislature provided additional funding to the CSU system this year, resulting in one-time budget increases for the libraries, the library directors approved initiation of the JACC project. The intent is to acquire all the CSU core journals in electronic format for systemwide online access through Pharos, a Z39.50 gateway designed to give campuses and remote users direct access to both traditional library resources and digital resources located anywhere on the Web. The JACC initiative is breaking new ground by asking vendors to disassemble their standard full-text database bundles and provide CSU with a customized database of just the titles selected by the university. This approach gives institutions the same control over developing their electronic collections as they have always exercised in selecting their print journals. With the number of electronic databases burgeoning, duplicated titles and overlapping licenses should not consume resources out of proportion with their value to the institution's users. Getting Started From the outset, the JACC has been a lightening rod for many critical and unresolved issues within the institution and the library publishing market at large. As are librarians throughout higher education, CSU librarians are asking themselves tough questions that focus on how to build and manage library collections in today's changing environment. User demands for access are increasing, the technology infrastructure to support them is being built, but there is no "new money" for funding collections. The JACC project has attracted both praise and criticism as an attempt to forge ahead in creating a systemwide electronic core collection, in spite of many open questions within the institution and the industry. The JACC requirements are extensive, following both the CSU consortium's guidelines for acquisition of electronic information resources and guidelines published by ICOLC, the International Consortium of Library Consortia. Key requirements for the JACC include:
Responses to CSU's request for proposals, not unexpectedly, mirror the challenging nature of the new model. Several vendors who had indicated their intent to respond dropped out of the process without submitting proposals. Not a single major publisher submitted a proposal. At the end of initial proposal evaluations, CSU selected four aggregators, all of whom substantially meet the university's mandatory requirements. At press time, CSU discussions continue with the four selected finalists -- EBSCO, The Gale Group, OCLC and UMI -- to identify the best options for implementing the project. Feedback from the vendor community suggests that, while the JACC initiative is groundbreaking, some see it as just the first wave of requests for customized collections that will come from institutions all over. Some vendors are using CSU's requirements as a model to further their product development planning for electronic collections and to influence publishers' pricing models. Regardless of the outcome for CSU's JACC, critical issues will likely remain on the table for further examination by other institutions that are closely observing the project. Taking the Next Steps
CSU's JACC project is advancing a new model based on familiar and proven collections management principles. The JACC represents a movement in electronic collections toward what libraries have always done in the past for traditional print collections -- to select and buy what is of highest value to the institution. The experimentation is likely to continue, both at CSU and higher education institutions everywhere. There are vendors that seem attuned to these institutions' emerging needs, and there is promise that workable solutions are beginning to evolve. [The CSU Academic Information Services Cooperative consortium is coordinated and managed by the SEIR group (Software and Electronic Information Resources) of the Information Resources and Technology division, Office of the Chancellor. For more information about the consortium's activities, see the SEIR website at http://www.co.calstate.edu/irt/seir/. Information about Pharos may be found at http://uias.calstate.edu/UIAS.html. ] Leigh Watson Healy, who helped CSU develop its JACC strategy, is a consultant to the information, publishing and library markets. leighwh@concentric.net SIDEBAR Future Considerations Funding
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