Big deal - good deal? Or is there a better deal?

The purchase by library consortia of all journals published by one publisher - the so-called Big Deal - is bad for small publishers and for large libraries even if - in the short-term - good for large publishers and for small libraries. The publishing and library communities need to find alternative purchasing models which provide better deals for those disadvantaged by the prevalence of the Big Deal, while retaining the benefit of scale in negotiation and supply

UK access to UK research

Technological changes are providing opportunities for easier access to publicly-funded research. While these opportunities for easier access have been growing, concerns have been expressed that current business models are preventing their realisation. Even well-funded university libraries are unable to purchase all the books and journals required by researchers and learners. A survey conducted by the JISC, CURL and SCONUL looked at six situations of access in one UK university to the research papers and books written by researchers in another comparable UK university. The survey indicates that UK researchers and learners may not have access to around one-third of publications by researchers in other UK universities. The shortfall in access varies from university to university and relates to all types of content but particularly to books and journals from smaller publishers. Targeted additional funding and support for new access models are suggested to improve access for UK researchers to UK research

Keeping your head in a revolution

Explores new developments in information services

Stellar winds driven by multi-line scattering

This paper presents a model of a radiation-driven stellar wind with overlapping spectral lines. It is based on the Castor, Abbott, and Klein (CAK) theory. The presence of overlapping lines allows a photon to be scattered many times in different lines. The properties of the wind at any point depend on the wavelength-averaged intensity, which in turn depends on the structure of the wind. A self-consistent wind model is found. The mass loss rate does not saturate as line overlap becomes more pronounced, but continues to increase. The terminal velocity is much larger than in the CAK model, while the velocity law is shallower. This model might help explain the massive winds from Wolf-Rayet stars

Improving access: is there any hope?

World-wide calls for improvements in access to journal literature are being answered by a plethora of projects and services. Consortial purchasing, national licences and "big deals" dominate changes in collection development. Moves to set up affordable easy-to-use electronic document delivery services offer an alternative model based on single-article purchase. More radical barrier-free access models are moving the economic emphasis away from purchasing to input-payments. Are all these projects and services making a difference or will access to journal literature be no better in years to come than it is now? It is arguable that only those initiatives which are developing new models through collaboration between the stakeholders will succeed in making a major break-through in access

Co-ordination to improve access in the UK : the response of the JISC to the parliamentary report 'Scientific publications: free for all?'

JISC is the Joint Information Systems Committee of the four Higher Education Funding Councils in the UK and also has a responsibility for networked services to the Further Education Colleges. JISC Strategy includes “improving the effectiveness of scholarly communication”. This involves implementing cost-effective improvements in access to academic content for learners and researchers in colleges and universities. One route to cost-effective improvements in access through negotiation of “big deals” – Pilot Site Licence Initiative 1996-99, NESLI 1999-2002, NESLi2 2002-. This route partially effective but many difficulties – e.g. long negotiations, small publishers not included, many universities and colleges unable to buy in. Push for Open Access coming from both JISC Journals Working Group and JISC Scholarly Communication Group

How can there be open access to journal articles?

The possibility of open access to journal literature has generated considerable discussion in the academic, publishing and library communities. The discussion has largely centred not on the desirability of open access in principle but upon its practicability and its effect upon the traditional journal publication system. This article will examine points made in the public discussion of the two major routes to open access outlined in the Budapest Open Access Initiative (BOAI), author self-archiving in academic repositories and the publication of journals using new toll-free economic models. Issues both for and against open access have been raised by authors, by publishers and by librarians, and a realistic approach to the feasibility of open access is important. The conclusion reached will be that open access to journal literature is feasible through either BOAI strategy but that more investigation is needed of both the positive and the negative messages received from stakeholders with as much experimentation of different models as possible