Scholarly Publishing in an Electronic Era: International Yearbook of Library and Information Management, 2004‐2005

Citation

Banwell, L. (2005), "Scholarly Publishing in an Electronic Era: International Yearbook of Library and Information Management, 2004‐2005", Performance Measurement and Metrics, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 132-133. https://doi.org/10.1108/14678040510607830

This volume is an edited collection of ten papers around the theme of scholarly publishing. The ten contributors are mostly from the UK, plus two from Australia. They represent national and international perspectives from different sectors of the information profession – academic, publishing, practitioners, and national bodies, providing an interesting coverage of the general area of scholarly publishing.

The International Yearbook of Library and Information Management describes itself as a thematic, refereed annual publication in the field of library science and information management worldwide. It is well regarded for the quality of its papers, and for the thoroughness and depth with which it approaches its chosen area each year.

This 2005 volume's main parts cover the topics central to a state‐of‐the‐art report on scholarly publishing, namely:

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  Overview of scholarly publishing in the twenty‐first century.

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  Institutional perspectives on scholarly publishing.

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  Access and preservation initiatives in scholarly publishing.

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  Models and economics of scholarly publishing.

Chapter titles indicate for the reader the topics covered in depth:

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  Where is scholarly publishing going?

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  Collaborative transformations in scholarly publishing.

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  The library's perspective on scholarly publishing in the twenty‐first century.

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  Evolution or revolution in scholarly publishing: challenges to the publisher.

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  Access and usability issues of scholarly electronic publications.

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  The next information revolution: how open access will transform scholarly communications.

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  Self‐archiving publications.

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  Electronic books.

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  Economics of publishing and the future of scholarly communication.

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  Usage statistics: achieving credibility, consistency and compatibility.

While not a volume specifically about performance measurement and metrics per se, the journal's readership will, nevertheless, find the whole volume of general interest. It is a state‐of‐the‐art report of a new area – the papers on self‐archiving publications (by Stephen Pinfield) which discusses issues surrounding institutional archives at some length, and on electronic books (by Louise Edwards), both pose serious questions for information professionals about the development of metrics to measure the performance of these new forms of information resource. The last, and most certainly, for us, not the least, chapter in the volume, deals specifically with the Journal's area of core interest. Dr Peter Shepherd's chapter is entitled “Usage statistics: achieving credibility, consistency and compatibility”. Dr Shepherd directs COUNTER, an international initiative to improve the reliability of online usage statistics, which are generated primarily by the vendor. The chapter describes COUNTER's Code of Practice, which focuses on journals and databases, and sets it in the context of other initiatives, which it complements. The process for further developing the code, and issues to be tackled in the future (such as e‐books) is also outlined.

Published by Facet Publishing, the collection represents good value for money. It provides an authoritative and wide ranging coverage of the area of scholarly publishing and is a must for both experienced practitioners and researchers, and those new to the field alike. The papers are well written and clearly presented. It is to be commended for purchase by academic librarians in particular, and also by practitioners seeking a state‐of‐the‐art report of this rapidly developing and important area with wide ranging implications for information professionals.