Introduction to Library Trends 48 (4) 2000: Collection Development in an Electronic Environment

published or submitted for publicatio

Young People and News

Presents survey findings on the daily news consumption of young Americans compared with that of older adults -- the sources, medium, frequency, depth, and selectivity of news exposure. Discusses issues of defining news consumption and implications

Publishing solutions for contemporary scholars: The library as innovator and partner

Purpose: To review the trend in academic libraries toward including scholarly communication, and by extension, electronic publishing, as part of their core mission, using the Cornell University Library as an example. Design/methodology/approach: The paper describes several manifestations of publishing activity organized under the Library’s Center for Innovative Publishing, including the arXiv (http://arxiv.org/), Project Euclid (http://projecteuclid.org), and DPubS (http://DPubS.org). Findings: Libraries bring many competencies to the scholarly communications process, including expertise in digital initiatives, close connections with authors and readers, and a commitment to preservation. To add publishing to their responsibilities, they need to develop expertise in content acquisition, editorial management, contract negotiation, marketing, and subscription management. Originality/value: Academic libraries are making formal and informal publishing a part of their core activity. A variety of models exist. The Cornell University Library has created a framework for supporting publishing called the Center for Innovative Publishing, and through it supports a successful open access repository (arXiv), a sustainable webhosting service for journals in math and statistics (Project Euclid) and a content management tool (DPubS) to enable other institutions (libraries,scholarly societies, presses) to engage in similar ventures to increase the dissemination of scholarship and to lower the barriers to its access