Re: Per View E-Journal Article Services

["Gerry Mckiernan" <GMCKIERN@gwgate.lib.iastate.edu>]

Hi Anthony

Thanks for your interest in my posting and for your considered response.

>"anthony.watkinson" <anthony.watkinson@BTinternet.com> 09/24 1:42 AM
>As a former publisher, who has felt for some time that offering single
>articles electronically was an obvious step to take assuming a
>satisfactory micropayment arrangement, I am greatly encouraged by this
>news.

I appreciate your support as a publisher. I believe that the explosion in
E-commerce in other commodity and services areas has demonstrated that
this is _technically_ possible and quite acceptable.

[BTW: I may have misinterpreted the service offered by the ACS / AIP. As I
did not have access to the full report for Seybold I relied on the
abstract. One interpretation of the summary is that they provide the
ability to order individual articles over the Web but that these are
delivered in a non-Web format, e.g. FAX]

>The problem has been that many publishers, non-profit and profit alike,
>have been worried about easy availability of individual articles because
>they see this availability as undermining subscription income.

This is understandable. The journal subscription model is the established
method of packaging. Fortunately, in such projects as the PEAK project
coordinated by Michigan other models are now seriously being considered.

>There is also the delay in serious thinking on this point which has
>resulted from the difficulty of getting a reliable supply of electronic
>files and also the appropriate infrastructure.

A critical mass is essential is fundmental to giving real, serious
consideration to alternative packaging formats. As others have document
and which I summarize in an article I am preparing on the use of
Intelligent Software Agents to Identify, Organize and Manage E-Serials,
such a critical mass has occurred and will increase steadily. [I'll be
glad to send a copy of the final draft when it is completed. I hope to
finish by the end of this month, but it will probably take at least
another 2-3 weeks to gel.

It is my belief that Intelligent Agents provide a cost effective means of
managing Full-text As Needed. Such delivery can be for local low demand
items or a completely different model where a library buys annual access
to for example 25,000 articles for a fixed price [This model pre-dates me
and my current obsession with E-Serials]

[In an Open Market, which I believe will occur, one could imagine a Best
Buy Agent that would automatically identify and retrieve the least
expensive source for any given article. No doubt in the near future, as
some authors retain copyright to their work, possibly free of charge].

BTW: For information about Intelligent Agents, please see my LibraryAgents
site at:

           http://www.public.iastate.edu/~CYBERSTACKS/Agents.htm

>It seems to me probable that decisions on which subscriptions a library
>can afford to pay are not going to be influenced by electronic
>availability of individual articles. Concepts of core and non-core and of
course money are the influential factors.

My assumption has been that we can divide the E-Serials Universe in this
way, but as noted above, there are other possibilities, e.g., subscribing
to packages of articles.

>However there is little evidence on this point and,for example, even the
>senior staff of UnCover, with whom I talked on thismatter at the last
>Charleston conference, were divided on >whether, from a publishing
>viewpoint, such availability might or might not have a negative impact.

As I am new to these issues, I'd be interested in knowing of _any_
additional observations, models, experiments on this matter, i.e. the per
unit cost of print articles based on use of articles within a library
[Impossible?]

>As many of you will know, the leading vendors/agents in their online
>aggregation offerings potentially can offer single articles to
>non-subscribers electronically, but, as I understand it, they have not
>moved forward very rapidly on implementing this service, not just because
>of publisher reluctance but also because of unclear signals coming from
>the library community.

This is a conclusion I will make in my paper. This infrastructure _is_ in
place. To me the next logical step is to offer the Per Article service.

BTW: I've learned that UnCover (r)through its Desktop Image Delivery
service current can provide destop delivery of articles from 2,500
journals form nearly 300 scholarly, university and trade publishers
[http://uncweb.carl.org/imagedel.html]

>What I can tell Gerry Mckiernan, on the basis of a large number of recent
>conversations with British learned society publishers for another purpose,
>is that opinion in that sector at any rate appears to be shifting in
>favour of allowing the sale of single articles over the Web and that this
>is likely to be through the sort of seamless services he is keen on.

This is Great News! [May I quote you in my article?]

>But there is also the question of cost. It is not much good articles
>being available in this way if the cost is prohibitive - is it?

It does come down to The Bottom Line - Cost vs. Benefit.

Thanks again for your thoughful reply to my posting.

Regards,

Gerry McKiernan
Science and Technology Librarian and Bibliographer
Iowa State University Library
152 Parks
Ames IA 50011