Journals and Academic Libraries in the Age of Google
Yesterday’s symposium here at Wayne State was a very interesting start to our “Year of the Journal” explorations. As most faculty are aware, the cost of library journal subscriptions continues to rise (9% per year on average), more journals are being created, but very few journals cease publication. This presents a tremendous challenge for the library budget.
The symposium was designed to help us (faculty and library staff and administrators) start thinking strategically and cooperatively about this important topic. Paul Courant, university librarian and dean of the University Library at the University of Michigan presented a fascinating talk on “Journal Subscriptions, Scholarly Communications and Academic Libraries in the Age of Google.” The University of Michigan is a partner with Google in a major book digitization effort and Courant talked about some of the implications of this shift in access to scholarly content. We also heard a review of copyright law in the digital age presented by Attorney Kathryn Ossian. This led into a panel discussion looking at the various needs and expectations of faculty in different disciplines and academic journal staff and librarians.
Clearly, we need to work together on finding ways to provide faculty with access to high quality scholarly content without digging ourselves into a financial hole that will be hard to climb out of. If the level of discussion was any indication, we’re off to a good start.