Stevan, the archiving debate interests me greatly, and I have a few
comments from the library perspective...
It may be clear to you that libraries will be archiving ejournals, but
I'm sure the reason Peter Graham is dwelling on this issue is that this
is a subject of heated interest and debate in the library world right
now. I happen to agree with you that this is a logical role for
research libraries and one we should pursue actively, but there are
very, very few library sites archiving ejournals now (NSCU, MIT, and
VPI come to mind, with SMALL collections) but the vast majority are
simply pointing to producer archives. We have not fully wrestled with
what commitment libraries will make to archiving, or how archiving will
be achieved (should every library archive? Can we agree on consortial
relationships, when they have rarely worked before? What resources will
be needed? What skills? What new relationships between systems staff
and library staff?)
I'm sure it would be very helpful to the library community to hear MORE
about why you feel so certain the archiving function should-- and
will-- fall to libraries.
It might interest you that I sent a query a few weeks back to the
serials librarians' list, Serialst, asking which libraries were
archiving ejournals, because I could find so few sites in my own web
searches. I GOT ZERO REPLIES!
Ellen Duranceau
Assoc. Head, Serials & Acquisitions Services
MIT LIbraries
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