Michael Mabe, SuperJournal:  The Publisher's Perspective, Paper Presented at UKSG Conference, 1 April 1998

Table 1.  Problems Using Printed Journals and the Library

Cluster/University

MGP

CCS

PS
Feature

C

O

U

N

B

Ul

W

S

D

L
Availability Issues                    
Local availability of journal titles          

x

x

x

x

  
Missing items: theft, vandalism, bindery  

x

x

  

x

    

x

x

x
Someone else is using it, eg students  

x

    

x

    

x

    
Fragmentation of the collection

x

              

x

  
Library opening hours              

x

  

x
Time                    
Time constraints generally  

x

x

  

x

x

        
Difficult keeping up to date  

x

x

    

x

x

  

x

  
Delays getting US journals  

x

x

              
Performance Issues                    
Filtering, discovering what's relevant        

x

  

x

  

x

  
Difficult/slow finding it in the library  

x

x

      

x

  

x

  
Have to go elsewhere (other libraries, ILL)        

x

x

x

x

x

  
Tracing errata    

x

              
Photocopying Issues                    
Time, inconvenience, eg long queues

x

x

x

      

x

x

x

  
Can't reproduce photo or colour images

x

x

x

              
Cost  

x

          

x

    

Keys:

Clusters: CCS = Communication & Cultural Studies, MGP = Molecular Genetics & Proteins, PS = Political Science

Universities: C = Cambridge, O = Oxford, U = UCL, N = NIMR, B = Birmingham, Ul = Ulster, W = Warwick, S = Sussex, D = DMU, L = LSE

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Last modified: June 21, 1998