Editorial: The crisis in scholarly communication

This was intended to be a special issue of Australian Academic & Research Libraries devoted to the crisis in scholarly communication. Many potential authors were asked, several promised, only a handful delivered--the universal plaint of the journal editor. In fact, it is quite clear that one of the many impacts of this crisis is on the senior staff in academic and research libraries: all are fighting various short deadlines to deal with many pressing issues simultaneously.

When asked to contribute to this issue, one of our colleagues commented that scholarly communication is an elusive concept. Undoubtedly it engenders myriad definitions, and conceptually can appear nebulous as it applies to libraries. Our colleague suggested that there is now very intensive use of less formal communication among professional groups, and that he would love to see a good study of how much of the information a researcher uses does come from a library.

What we have here are three articles which address the theme of this issue directly, and three others which do so in part simply because they are timely. Trish Milne provides an introduction and overview to the crisis in scholarly communication, referring to the now extensive literature in this area. Janine Schmidt discusses its impact upon the University of Queensland Libraries, in terms which will no doubt be familiar to many readers. By contrast, Michael Green chooses to sound a warning.

If on the one hand the widespread availability of electronic information is posing budgetary and other problems, it is also raising once again the spectre of censorship. Alex Byrne, as Chair of the Committee on Free Access to Information and Freedom of Expression for the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), challenges tertiary and research as well as public and school libraries to commit themselves to IFLA's recently release Guidelines.

Libraries everywhere are cutting journal subscriptions in response the the crisis in scholarly communication. But which titles should be cancelled? In a research-based paper Russell Smyth, an economist, provides a citation analysis of the use of Australian economics titles, contrasting patterns of Australian citation and usage with those in his discipline worldwide.

TAFE libraries, too, are affected by the crisis in scholarly communication, as is clear from Barbara Sullivan-Windle's description of the ways in which the Southbank Institute of TAFE Library is consciously building partnerships on and off its campus.

Readers may also be interested in two other responses to the crisis in scholarly communication. Neil McLean of Macquarie University has summarised the main themes from a workshop held at the ANU earlier this year in 'Strategic Directions for Australia's Research Information Infrastructure'. At the University of Canberra, Lois Jennings has circulated an internal Discussion Paper, 'Creating University Library Services for the 21st Century', which summariese the issues for staff of the university and suggests some possible courses of action.

We conclude with the thought that, perhaps, we hardly needed to plan an issue on the crisis in scholarly communication: it is the central issue which faces the profession as we move into the new millennium, a challenge which librarians are accepting in a variety of ways, as the articles in this issue bear testimony. It is an issue which will continue to be discussed in these pages--in every issue, and from many viewpoints.

Peter Clayton
Editor