Start date: 1 May 2002
End date: 30 April 2003
Funding programme: Digital Preservation and Records Management Programme
JISC theme(s): Information environment, e-Administration
The long-term archiving of scholarly publications is a key concern of many
academic authors and customers of STM publishers. Subscribers to
e-journals, particularly academic libraries whose core business depends on
being able to cite and ensure future access to published works, are also
deeply concerned with ensuring provision for continuing access to licensed
publications. The transition from purchasing print journals, which are
then owned by libraries, to licensing access to content controlled by
publishers, requires planning and collaboration to provide an assurance of
continued access at an affordable price.
In terms of licensed e-journals, the JISC National Electronic Site
Licensing Initiative (NESLI) model licence attempts to address the
requirements of libraries by the incorporation of three clauses relating to
continued access following termination of the licence. After several
years in operation, it is now timely to explore the practical effect of
these licensing clauses.
The Cedars project funded by JISC established a number of technical
approaches which can be applied to long-term preservation of electronic
publications. The project evaluation highlighted the need for further
appraisal of service and business models.
JISC has therefore funded a one-year follow-on consultancy by Maggie Jones
to evaluate previous licences; explore with publishers and other
stakeholders archiving and access provisions; and evaluate future options
for archiving of licensed e-journals and access arrangements.
Interim deliverables from the study are available from the foot of this
page. A related
one-day workshop was held on 17 February 2003; details of speakers,
powerpoint presentations, breakout group reports and a summary of the day
are available from the workshop web page.