8th Interlending and Document Supply International Conference, Canberra Australia 28-31 October 2003
 



Replacing the real with the virtual: buying and borrowing journals at the University of Melbourne

Mary Ann Gibson, Dorothea Rowse, Vija Pattison and Pat Knight

Abstract | Paper in [PDF] Portable Document Format (PDF)
Presentation in Microsoft® PowerPoint® format

Rocketing price increases has meant that many expedients have been tried over the past ten years to maintain access to the journal literature vital for research. The notion of access over ownership, while popular with librarians has simply not been acceptable to academic researchers who want the immediate access of a journal subscription held by the library. The University of Melbourne Library has, over the past two years, developed a philosophy and services to deal with this.

Considerable effort has been made to expedite the document delivery service so that the majority of articles are supplied within 2 days, and the Library now places most requests off-shore with suppliers, whose delivery goals match our needs. Academics have been encouraged to review journal subscriptions in three categories, the third of which are those titles which are of peripheral or lesser interest, which could be supplied by relying on current awareness and fast document delivery, thus freeing up funds for new titles. There is now a blend of buying and borrowing in the access to journal titles.

In addition, this philosophy is currently being translated into a possible mechanism to be used when preparing the materials budget. A controlled percentage increase for the subscription component might be managed by using document delivery to provide access to titles that could be cancelled to control the expenditure.

This paper is based on experiences gained during a major review of journal subscriptions during 2002, and surveys of customers and turnaround times in the document delivery area.

 

 

 
  National Library of Australia Australian Library and Information Association International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions