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Dear Colleagues,
In December, I sent out a direct mailing within the ARLIS/NA community to
selected Librarians in ca. 250 art Libraries. The mailing was composed of a
survey of the use of electronic journals within the art library. After an
initial flurry of responses, none were received after January 25th. If you
mailed back the survey completed survey a little before or after this date,
please let me know by e-mail. This will help to confirm whether or not there=
is
a problem with our postal system. The deadline for the return of the =
completed
survey has been extended to Friday, February 26th. I have included a copy fo=
the
survey with this e-mail. You may respond to this e-mail version of the =
survey
instead of the print version mailed out: it's faster and by-passes any =
problems
associated with snailmail.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Stephanie Moye, Serials Librarian
National Museum of American Art
Smithsonian Institution
(202) 357-1886
smoye=40nmaa.si.edu
Electronic Journals in the Visual Arts: a Survey of ARLIS/NA Members
The purpose of this survey is to assess the integration of visual arts
e-journals into the art library (or visual arts library collection.) The
relatively recent introduction of e-journals accessible via the World Wide =
Web
into libraries has raised many issues in the areas of e-journal selection,
access, promotion, and use. These issues as they occur in art libraries have
become a major source of discussion within the Serials Round Table. It =
became
apparent that while art librarians are dealing with the universal issues
surrounding e-journals, they also deal with e-journal issues specific to the=
art
library. The art library's integration of e-journals appears to lag behind =
that
of libraries' or library collections of most other disciplines=3B which have
greater support, and a larger and more substantial range of e-journals to =
choose
from.
The survey questions are arranged topically to assess art libraries' =
e-journal
holdings, selection, access, promotion, and patron use. It is hoped that =
this
survey will identify the extent and content of art libraries' e-journal
holdings=3B will raise special issues of access and how they affect =
selection
decisions=3B and determine what and how much we are doing to promote =
e-journals
and to what effect (how much e-journals are actually used.) The combination =
of
answers to the various survey questions should provide an overall picture of=
the
current integration of e-journals into art libraries (or visual arts library
collections) in North America.
Because more than one person can be involved with e-journals in a library, =
this
survey is being distributed to head librarians, collection development
librarians, reference librarians and serials librarians who may, if =
necessary,
consult with the appropriate members of their staff in order to complete the
survey. Art librarians working in visual arts collections that are housed =
within
academic, special or public libraries that are not individual art libraries
should respond to the survey questions as they pertain to their visual arts
collections.
The questions include multiple choice questions, questions which can be
answered with simple =22yes=22 or =22no=22 responses, and questions which =
require short
descriptive answers. The multiple choice questions have the possible answers
listed below, with each answer prefaced by a double asterisk: =2A=2A. The =
multiple
choice questions may be answered by checking one or more applicable answers.
The survey will be distributed to selected ARLIS/NA members by both =
regular
U.S. mail and by e-mail in late December, 1998. Survey respondents are asked=
to
e-mail or snail-mail the completed survey back by Friday, February the 12th,
1999. The results will be presented and discussed in a paper given in Tim
Shipe's session:'Selecting and Managing Remote Electronic Resources in Art
Libraries' to be held at the Vancouver conference in March.
Stephanie Moye, Serials Round Table Coordinator
Serials Librarian
The Library of the National Museum of American Art and
National Portrait Gallery
8th =26 G St., NW
Washington, DC 20560
smoye=40nmaa.si.edu
THE SURVEY:
1. What type of library do you work in: (check one or more applicable =
answer.)
=2A=2Aacademic
=2A=2Amuseum
=2A=2Apublic
=2A=2Aart and/or design school
=2A=2Aarchitecture
=2A=2Aother special
2. Are visual arts e-journals included in your library's collection =
development
policy?
3. Do you subscribe to fee-based visual arts e-journals? If yes, indicate =
how
many, and list the titles and specific subject areas covered in them. Also
indicate if you subscribe to their print counterparts.
4. If you subscribe to fee-based e-journals, indicate how you acquire them.
Check one or more applicable answer.
=2A=2Aindividual subscription through the primary publisher
=2A=2Athrough vendors
=2A=2Athrough non-profit organizations such as universities
=2A=2Athrough other commercial companies
5. What is the name(s) of your fee-based e-journal subscription
agent(s)?
p.2
6. Are you dissatisfied with any of the products and services of your =
e-journal
subscription agent(s)? Check one or more applicable answer.
=2A=2Agateway services through proprietary search engines =
=2A=2Acustomized
subscription packages
=2A=2Atechnical support
=2A=2Aaccess control
=2A=2Alicensing agreement
=2A=2Aarchiving of back issues
=2A=2Aformatting of full-text
=2A=2Aquality of graphics
7. Do you =22collect=22 (identify and promote use of) free visual arts =
e-journals?
If yes, indicate how many, and list some of the titles and specific subject
areas covered in them.
8. If you collect free e-journals in addition to, or instead of fee-based,
indicate why, checking one or more applicable answer.
=2A=2Apaucity of fee-based visual arts e-journals
=2A=2Ayou have identified high-quality free visual arts e-journals for your
collection
=2A=2Abudgetary reasons
=2A=2Aalthough generally less scholarly than fee-based e-journals, content =
in free
visual arts e-journals can be more cutting-edge
9. If you do not collect, or limit your collection of free visual arts
e-journals, is it due in part to: (check one or more applicable answer.)
=2A=2Atheir reputation for high instability
=2A=2Alack of scholarly content that would be useful to your users
=2A=2Athe difficulty of finding suitable free visual arts e-journals among =
the vast
numbers of free e-journals on the web
10. Are interdisciplinary arts and humanities fee-based or free e-journals
included among the visual arts e-journals in your library's collection? If =
yes,
indicate how many, and list some of the titles and specific subject areas
covered in them.
P.3
11. Are there specific visual arts subject areas important to your library's
collection and users for which there seems to be a paucity of fee-based or =
free
visual arts e-journals? If yes, list these subject areas.
12. What sources do you use to identify fee-based or free visual arts =
e-journals
for evaluation and selection?
13. What do you consider to be the main reason(s) that access to e-journals =
can
be superior to those in paper format? Check one or more applicable answer.
=2A=2Acurrency
=2A=2Aspeed of access
=2A=2Asearchability/browsability
=2A=2Ainteractive communication between author and reader
=2A=2Aelectronic navigation within and among web documents
=2A=2Aelectronic information linking (citations to other web documents)
=2A=2Amulti-media information
=2A=2Abroad dissemination/simultaneous access
=2A=2Aability to cut and paste
=2A=2Adownloadable
=2A=2Aeasier claiming
=2A=2Aeases shelve space shortages
=2A=2Aother?
14. Which do you consider to be the main problem(s) of access to e-journals?
Check one or more applicable answer.
=2A=2Atrouble locating free e-journals on the web, even if a variety of =
access
methods are used (urls, search engine, listserv address, browsing host =
server,
etc.)
=2A=2Ainaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date URL for free e-journals =
provided in
e-periodical lists, directories, or other source es.
=2A=2Athe difficulty of identifying quality free journals among the vast =
numbers
available on the web.
=2A=2Alimitations on access due to limited number of computers, =
work-stations,
and/or technical support in your library
=2A=2Aserver downtime
=2A=2Aloss of physical access and browsing available in print format
=2A=2Aother?
p.4
15. Which do you consider to be the main barrier(s) of access to information
contained within individual e-journals? Check one or more applicable answer.
=2A=2Alack of standardization (for example: common format, consistent =
interface)
particularly in free e-journals
=2A=2Aproblems due to lack of, incompleteness of, or difficulty accessing =
archives
=2A=2Alack of indexing and abstracting of articles and other content =
through
bibliographic reference tools
=2A=2Afee-based e-journals that are =22print equivalents=22 sometimes do =
not include
all content (=22 adjunct content=22 such as letters to the editor, book =
reviews,
errata, etc.)
=2A=2Amany free e-journals are really adjuncts to and/or advertisements for=
their
print-equivalents which provide limited access to contents of the print =
version
=2A=2Acataloging problems specific to e-journals
=2A=2Aother?
16. How have special access problems to e-journals affected your selection
decisions on fee-based or free e-journals in your library?
17. Are visual arts e-journals cataloged and made accessible on your =
library's
OPAC?
18. Does your library have a bibliography or bibliographies of visual arts
e-journals available to users? If yes, how often is it/are they updated?
19. Is your visual arts e-journal bibliography (or bibliographies): (check =
one
or more applicable answer.)
=2A=2Adevoted to e-journals alone?
=2A=2Aincluded in combination with bibliographies of other electronic =
resources
=2A=2Acompiled by subject matter into different bibliographies?
=2A=2Aincluded on your library or parent institution website?
P.5
20. Do you offer bibliographic instruction sessions: (check one or more
applicable answer.)
=2A=2Adevoted to e-journals exclusively?
=2A=2Awith e-journal instruction in conjunction with instruction
on other electronic resources?
=2A=2Awith e-journal instruction mainly in one-on-one reference
consults?
21. How often are your library's visual arts fee-based and/or
free e-journals used? For example: many times a day, few times a
day, few times a week, etc.
22. In your experience, do you find that your users have trouble
finding the information they seek in e-journals because of
retrieving a large number of relevant visual arts e-journals that
are not print equivalents and having to search across each one?
Please provide any additional comments you may have, and thank
you for your participation.
