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Electronic Access to Scholarly Material
Are all of the Libraries' journals available in electronic format?
Not all journal titles have an electronic version. The number of titles published electronically, however, is increasing rapidly. So far, UM Libraries provide access to more than 4,000 electronic journals. We pay for subscriptions to more than 6,000 print journals.
Is there a difference in cost between electronic and paper journals? Can't we have access to electronic and print versions of a journal for the same amount of money?
Initially, many e-journals were "bundled" with the print subscription. Sometimes a percentage surcharge was tacked on for electronic access. Consequently, e-journals actually increased our annual subscription costs. Increasingly, publishers are beginning to charge more for bundled print and electronic subscriptions, while charging less for electronic only subscriptions making it more economically advantageous to subscribe to journal collections in electronic format only. For more information regarding this trend and the associated costs to the Libraries please see Moving Beyond Paper 2005: More Journal Subscriptions to be received only in Electronic Form.
Will older issues of electronic journals become available in electronic format? How far back in time are electronic journals available?
The publisher determines whether or not to make older issues of e-journals available. Because of the trend to move to electronic only access, many publishers have developed e-journal archival plans that ensure long-term access to journals available electronically, but also seek to digitize back issues that, previously, had no electronic equivalent.
Those publishers that are providing online access to journal backfiles are usually doing so for an additional fee. So it varies as to how many issues of a journal are available online. The availability of backfiles can range from last year to the nineteenth century. For example, the American Physical Society provides backfile access it its titles through Physical Review Online Archive (PROLA).
In addition, projects like JSTOR, an electronic archive of journals from across the disciplines, are addressing the need for electronic access to back issues and digital archiving of e-journals.
How will the Libraries ensure perpetual access to e-journals? What happens if the publisher goes out of business? What happens if the Libraries cancel then restart an e-journal subscription?
This an area of great concern for both libraries and the scholarly community. We examine our license agreements closely to evaluate the terms of long-term access. We prefer products that offer strong archival plans and access to electronic journal content, even if we cancel our subscription. Since we currently license most of our e-journal content, unless we own the paper volumes, we have to be sure that the publisher will provide us with electronic access to the years of the journal for which we had a subscription. Often, in the license agreement, the publisher will specify what happens to our access if we cancel our subscription or if the publisher goes out of business. Publishers may give or sell us the issues on CD-ROM or let us FTP the data to a local server. Many publishers are contracting with another publisher/organization, such as OCLC, Online Computer Library Center, to ensure continued access.
Libraries and the academic community in general are examing how best to preserve e-journal content to ensure perpetual access. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation provided grant money for academic libraries to investigate issues in e-journal archiving. Progress is being made and libraries are working with publishers and the academic community on sustainable, technically sound solutions. Some notable initiatives include LOCKSS out of Stanford and E-archive a project run by Ithaka, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the use of information technologies in higher education.
Can I download e-journal articles to create my own database or to share them with colleagues?
Many of our license agreements place restrictions on systematic downloading and printing. For example, a license may forbid the downloading or printing of an entire issue of a journal or it may restrict downloading and printing to academic use. While usually these rules simply reflect copyright law, some licenses are more restrictive. Restrictions are usually described on the journal’s website if you have any questions. We prefer to license products that allow you to download articles and store them on your computer for your own use. But, often these articles cannot be distributed to colleagues via a web or ftp website other than the publisher’s website.
For more information on copyright and fair use, see
How do I access electronic journals?
You can access UM's e-journals from both on and off campus. For off-campus access, please use Research Port . See Off-Campus Access for other ways of accessing e-journals remotely.
If you don't see the title you are looking for, contact your librarian subject specialist or go to the nearest UM Libraries reference desk.
How does the image quality of electronic journals compare to the paper version? If I print out an e-journal article will it look the same as what I see on the screen?
With the increasing emphasis on e-journals, digital image quality is becoming comparable to paper journals with some e-journals including additional dynamic, hyperlinked graphics. Sometimes, however, there is a difference between the electronic and paper version of the same journal article in terms of the image quality of photographs, tables, and graphs. Due to publisher distribution agreements, an electronic journal article may not contain actual graphs, tables, and photos found in the paper version. Conversely, e-journal articles may include additional text, images, sound, or video, which are omitted from the article’s paper counterpart.
Printing e-journal articles is dependent on the quality of your monitor and the resolution of your printer. Printing out an article does not, necessarily, ensure quality comparable to the paper or electronic version of the article. For best results, set your printer at a high resolution when printing e-journal articles containing images, graphs, or tables.
If the library does not subscribe to an e-journal can I request articles through Interlibrary Loan(ILL)? How much does it cost?
Interlibrary Loan (ILL) is a library service that will obtain materials not owned by UM Libraries from other libraries. Unless the request exceeds a certain cost, you do not pay for this service (UM Libraries funds this service). Obtaining articles through ILL is an alternative to subscribing to low use journals. Journal articles requested through ILL will be delivered to your desktop as page images. There is a time limit and copyright restrictions placed on your ILL request. Please see additional services for information on desktop delivery.
In addition, faculty can get free faxed articles via Ingenta.
For more information, see the Ingenta FAQ.
Will the paper version of a journal be destroyed because we have electronic access?
Although some current journals will only be acquired in electronic format, the Libraries will not be discarding any of our paper collections. In 2002, the Libraries formulated a policy that dictates the criteria upon which decisions to cancel paper subscriptions are based. Please see Moving Beyond Paper 2005: More Journal Subscriptions to be received only in Electronic Formonly in electronic format for more information. We will continue to evaluate publisher packages and individual journals on a case by case basis.
Why don't we have a particular electronic journal I've seen advertised?
Subscribing to e-journal collections is often complex. Some publishers require substantial additional payments and complicated or unreasonable licensing and/or access terms, which place limitations on use. Some packages may have clauses in the license agreement that would prevent the Libraries from cancelling the corresponding paper titles for the duration of the agreement.
Also, our ability to provide comprehensive journal access is affected by the crisis in scholarly communication. This crisis was precipitated by price increases in journal subscriptions that have outstripped the ability of library budgets to pay for them. We are not guaranteed annual budget increases to pay for inflation, much less add new titles. Every year we evaluate our journal subscriptions to try and balance our need to maintain paper titles, purchase added electronic access, and add new titles in paper and electronic formats. For more information about the scholarly communication crisis and how you can help, see Crisis In Scholarly Communication FAQ's.
