RE: Is it time to stop printing journals?

[Dave Clemens <dave.clemens@canterbury.ac.nz>]

>In other words, do the librarians on this list have the sense 
>that their patrons are operating in a post-print world (not in 
>the OA/PMC/Battle Royale sense of the term, but meaning have we 
>outgrown print)?

As a librarian working in a special library (Geography) I'm 
getting a growing sense of electronic journals being seen by or 
patrons as the 'copy of record'. This may well be quite 
discipline specific, but a year spent working in a medical 
library (in 2005) didn't do too much to change that impression.

Dave Clemens

Librarian
Geography Department Library
University of Canterbury/Te Whare Wananga o Waitaha
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch
New Zealand


Sent: Friday, 30 March 2007 11:50 a.m.
To: liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu
Subject: Re: Is it time to stop printing journals?

Scott Plutchak from UAB writes in his blog response:

"We certainly don't need to keep the print to satisfy our user 
base.  Two years ago we stopped getting any print for our 
ScienceDirect titles.  I did not get a single question, comment, 
or expression of concern from faculty or students.  We've reached 
the point where librarians tend to worry a lot more about the 
print than the people who use our libraries do."

I am curious to hear whether this is a commonly held sentiment. 
In other words, do the librarians on this list have the sense 
that their patrons are operating in a post-print world (not in 
the OA/PMC/Battle Royale sense of the term, but meaning have we 
outgrown print)?  If so, this would be a remarkable shift, and a 
remarkably quick one.  Certainly when I helped launch The 
Berkeley Electronic Press in 2000, print was sacrosanct.  The 
idea of a viable electronic-only journal publisher was met with 
feedback running the wide gamut from skepticism to scorn.  If 
this equation has indeed flipped in a matter of a half-dozen or 
so years, this ranks as one of the most important periods in 
scholarly communication history.

Best, Greg

Greg Tananbaum
gtananbaum@gmail.com
(510) 295-7504