New and evolving information technologies and a rapidly expanding universe of information resources present both challenges and opportunities in the arena of scholarly communication. The number of serials published has increased approximately 60% over the past 15 years. The prices of journals increased 60% in the past ten years with science and technology journals increasing almost 75% during the same time period. Legislation poses potential threats to fair use and access to scholarly information. Meanwhile, new initiatives such as the Public Library of Science, the Scholarly Publication and Academic Resource Coalition (SPARC), and the Principles for Emerging Systems of Scholarly Communications are focusing efforts on improving the existing system. This presentation will provide you with background on these and other issues, trends, and initiatives.
The local information access budget situation and library policies and guidelines will be reviewed in the second part of the session. Your feedback, suggestions, and concerns are solicited to help build an ongoing dialogue between the Computer Science Department and the library.