JSTOR: A History

Citation

Line, M.B. (2005), "JSTOR: A History", Interlending & Document Supply, Vol. 33 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ilds.2005.12233aae.003

JSTOR: A History

Book

JSTOR: A History

Roger C. SchonfeldPrinceton University PressPrinceton, NJ2003xxxiv, 412 pp.ISBN: 0-691-11531-1

Keywords: Digital storage, JournalsDOI: 10.1108/02641610510582171

This work comes within the rare category of contemporary library history. JSTOR as a fully operational enterprise is only seven years old, and it was only five when the book was finished; moreover several articles have been written on it. What need can there be for such a book, and what is the justification for publishing it? According to Bowen’s Note on publication, “it seemed impossible to capture (JSTOR’s) history in a short account, or even series of accounts … Instead, we asked Roger Schonfeld to prepare a detailed study documenting JSTOR’s experiences, ‘warts and all’”. A better justification is that given in the Foreword: “[Schonfeld’s] book is valuable not only as a historical account, but also as a compendium of lessons for those who intend to pursue similar ventures”.

JSTOR as a going system may date back only seven years, but before that there were eight years of planning and negotiation. The progenitor and constant driving force was William G. Bowen, President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, who conceived the idea when a liberal arts college of which he was a trustee was experiencing serious library space problem. This problem, together with that of rocketing serial prices, had exercised librarians for several years, with little economic solution in sight. Involving the Mellon Foundation, with its long interest in academic libraries, was easy.

There followed an exploration of alternative approaches, which ended with the decision, on the grounds of cost, to digitise whole pages rather than text (the cost difference was estimated to be a factor of 25); a realisation that providing access was a more important objective than saving space; determination of which ten journals to digitise first (selected history and economics titles); choice as to high- or low-use journals (high-use were chosen); discussions with UMI and Chadwyck-Healey which led to a dead end; tricky negotiations with publishers, resulting in licences; practical development work at the University of Michigan, during which various problems were encountered and surmounted; agreement with Harvard University and the University of Michigan to provide paper originals, microfilm having proved altogether unsatisfactory for copying. In 1955 (when I was shown a trial printout in Bowen’s office at the Mellon Foundation, and was at once converted), JSTOR was incorporated as an independent not-for-profit organisation and Kevin Guthrie was appointed as Executive Director. JSTOR went live in 1997, as it moved towards self-sustainability. After that the story is one of continual expansion, both of journals digitised and of user libraries, including several in the UK via a JISC mirror site. In May 2002, 218 journals (over nine million pages) were online, and 1,321 libraries in over 60 countries were participating. By August 2004 these figures had grown to 440 journals (1.1 million articles), 15.9 million pages, 2,105 libraries and 85 countries[1]. Bowen’s initial concept has generated a success story.

So, what does the book tell us? First, a driving force with influence in the right places and the ability to persuade is essential; Bowen’s persistence, skill and judgement were crucial (as the Foreword says, “clone Bill Bowen”). Next, assemble a good team that encompasses the necessary range of expertise, which is likely to be extensive. Expect development to take much longer than you at first estimate. Be prepared for long and complex negotiations with numerous parties. Maintain consistently friendly relations with possible competitors, partners who prove in the end not to be suitable, and suspicious customers.

The book is meticulously researched, every fact and statement being supported by a reference, often to unpublished material. The account appears to be absolutely honest; no attempt is made to conceal failures and weaknesses. Each chapter concludes with a useful “Summation”, especially valuable in view of the detail in the preceding text. The final chapter is “Epilogue: lessons learned”. Along the way we learn something about other projects such as TULIP and DIRECT, as well as about the history of technological developments in US libraries during a critical period.

And yes, the book really was worth writing and publishing. If similar accounts had been written of the early experiments in automation, “warts and all” (some projects consisted almost wholly of warts), many of us would have been saved a lot of time and money.

What effect JSTOR has had and will have on access to the journal literature is not yet fully apparent. Although the range of journals offered, especially in the physical sciences, is very limited, it must have substituted for quite a lot of conventional remote document supply. It has surely too provided access to many older volumes that were previously less easy of access. Will it save storage space in libraries, as was the original aim? And where does it go from here, in view of the fact that the great bulk of demand is in science and technology?

The book is very nicely produced. It is also well written and surprisingly readable, though there are some words unknown to dictionaries of British English (e.g. “trepidant”) and the occasional jarring Americanism such as “most everything” for “almost everything”. The titles of Lynne Brindley’s posts at the University of Leeds and the British Library are slightly inaccurate. But these are tiny flaws in a very worthy and useful work.

Maurice B. LineHarrogate

Note1. JSTOR facts and figures, available at: http://www.jstor/org/about/facts.html (accessed 28 September 2004).