Home November2005 abstracts

College and Research Libraries
November 2005, Vol. 66, No. 6

Abstracts

Reassessing Prospects for the Open Access Movement
Charles A. Schwartz
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Open access may well be a turning point for the scholarly communication system, but not on the basis claimed by its advocates. As opposed to the claim that open access means a less costly system, in reality it entails redundant expenditures and inflationary pressures. The true significance of open access, involving processes of institutional development of the system, has not entered into the public debate. Such processes are chiefly twofold: the adjustment of the open-access movement to the different needs and cultures of the various stakeholder groups, and the advent of a more complex system architecture that facilitates research productivity and scholarly innovation.

A Citation Study of the Characteristics of the Linguistics Literature
Helen Georgas and John Cullars
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By analyzing the citation patterns of the linguistics literature, the authors provide a bibliometric description of the discipline that will help librarians who have reference, instruction, or collection development responsibilities in this area understand it better. One important aspect of such an understanding is determining where linguistics classifies within the humanities, the social sciences, and the sciences. Based on several of the citation patterns discovered, namely the importance of recent publications to the field, and the prominence of journals as a primary vehicle of scholarly communication, this analysis concludes that linguistics more closely resembles the disciplines of the social sciences.

Perished or Published: The Fate of Presentations from the Ninth ACRL Conference
Joseph Fennewald
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The scientific merit of the Ninth ACRL Conference is assessed by tracking the subsequent publication of its presentations. The results indicate that presentations in all formats—papers, panels, posters, and roundtables—achieved publication in refereed journals. Papers and panels were more likely to be published (18%) than posters and roundtables (8%). Overall, 13 percent of all presentations became refereed articles. In addition, eight percent of the presentations were based on prior publications. The rate of subsequent publication identified here is similar to that of a previous study of a library conference. However, it is much lower than rates reported for medical and scientific conferences. This may suggest that the ACRL conference resembles a technical, not a scientific, meeting with an emphasis on presenting best practices rather than disseminating research. This study should be replicated to determine if the publication of presentations is higher at other and future library conferences.

Using Cited Half-life to Adjust Download Statistics
J. Parker Ladwig and Andrew J. Sommese
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"Supplying accurate CPU [cost-per-serial use] information to faculty and appropriate marketing of the alternate modes of delivery ... become the key to achieving an optimal cost-efficient serials collection in an academic library."1

A model is presented for adjusting use statistics using a journal’s ISI Journal Citation Reports cited half-life. The goal is to improve the method used to evaluate the raw electronic download figure. The proposed model will still undercount total use, but the undercounting will be proportional across disciplines and less severe. By using this model, librarians can avoid making cancellation decisions that may cost their libraries more money in the long run.

Reformatting Preservation Departments: The Effect of Digitization on Workload and Staff
Marie R. Kennedy
PDF version

This study investigates whether digitization has affected the workload and staffing of preservation departments. Data from a survey of eighteen ARL libraries over five years were used to track the number of reformatting tasks completed and staffing trends in order to determine whether there is an evident effect from digitization. Analysis reveals that the number of items processed by preservation departments has increased by ten percent due to digital-reformatting tasks and without a corresponding increase in staffing. The shape of preservation departments is indeed shifting, and this trend should be followed closely over subsequent years