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Elsevier Agreement Expands A ccess to Scholarly Materials Thanks to successful negotiations by the university librarians of the three University of Illinois campuses ( Chicago , Springfield , and Urbana ), a new contract has been forged with the publishing giant Elsevier, one that treats the three campus libraries as a single entity. The terms of the contract allow one print copy of an Elsevier journal to be subscribed to at any one of the three campuses, with all campuses then having electronic access. The contract takes effect January 1, 2004. For the Urbana campus, this new agreement nails down many important medical and biotechnical journals that under previous contracts might have been cancelled by the UIC Library, which also is faced with continuing budget challenges. In addition, it frees up some money in the Library collection budget that can be used for collection needs across the disciplines. It also maximizes a commodity that is becoming increasingly dear to research libraries around the country: shelf space. Librarians from all three campuses have been working closely together over the past several weeks, determining where each title in the extensive Elsevier list will be housed. Thanks to a long tradition of interlibrary lending among the University of Illinois Libraries , whenever a print copy of an article is needed, our libraries assure a fast and efficient response to users. While it is something of a culture change for the Urbana campus to have a print subscription housed in another location, it is a sign of the times as scholarly communication systems change, and publishing moves more firmly into the electronic arena. The Library appreciates the opportunity to add resources for our scholars, and it sees the Elsevier agreement as an excellent start on collaborations with our sister campuses to expand access to scholarly materials in a more affordable way. Written by Karen Schmidt, associate university librarian for collections |
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