Digital Preservation and Library Periodicals Expenses:

Eileen Fenton and Roger Schonfeld CNI December 9, 2003*

Variance between Non-Subscription Costs for Print and Electronic Formats on a Life-Cycle Basis

* Data Revised as of December 31, 2003

Outline

• Archiving – Our Definition

• The Need

• Components of a Trusted Archive

• Study: Non-subscription costs for print vs. electronic formats on a life-cycle basis– Methodology– Data– Findings

Definition of Archiving

• Preservation and Access over Time– Time horizon is extremely long– Beyond the period that the materials are

economically productive

The Need

• Preservation and Access Must Be Ensured:– The community is increasingly reliant upon e-

resources.– With growing frequency, the e-version is

considered the copy of record.– If e-resources offer opportunities to generate

savings, these will not be fully realized without a trusted archiving solution.

Elements of a Trusted Archive

1. Mission– Mission is critical because it drives resource

allocation and routine organizational priorities and activities.

2. Business Model– Sustainability is key.– The archive must generate funds adequate

to cover the work of the archive from sufficiently diversified sources.

Elements of a Trusted Archive

3. Technical Infrastructure– An infrastructure must be developed which

supports the key functions of the archive:• Ingest• Verification• Storage • Delivery• Migration

– It must allow for sufficient replication with appropriate geographic spread.

Elements of a Trusted Archive

4. Relations with Libraries– The archive must meet the needs of the

library community and the scholars they serve.

5. Relations with Content Producers– The archive must secure the rights

necessary to the archival task and must arrange for timely, secure deposit of content.

Open Issues

• Progress must be made in several areas simultaneously. – Content– Technical– Business

• Technical issues have received the greatest level of attention to date.

Open Issues

• Study launched by JSTOR’s Electronic-Archiving Initiative sought to:– Understand the impact of growing reliance on

electronic journals on library budgets.– Our question: How do the non-subscription

expenditures for print vs. electronic periodicals differ?

– Focused exclusively on non-subscription periodicals costs.

Non-Subscription Costs

These are the periodicals-related costs other than the actual cost of the subscription.

The largest of these include:• The cost of space;• The cost of computer workstations and

infrastructure;• The cost of binding; and, most importantly,• The cost of library staff time.

Group Members

• Eileen Gifford Fenton, Executive Director, JSTOR Electronic-Archiving Initiative.

• Kevin Guthrie, Chairman, JSTOR.• Donald King, Research Professor,

University of Pittsburgh.• Ann Okerson, Associate University

Librarian, Yale University.• Roger Schonfeld, Coordinator of

Research, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Outline

• Methodology for Data Collection• Overview of Data• Life-Cycle Approach• Life-Cycle Findings• Implications for the Future

• Funded through a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Data Collection Overview

• Staff logged their time spent on different activities

• Each institution completed a survey • 11 academic libraries participated

Data Collection: Staff Activities

1. Collections development 8. Physical Processing

2. Negotiations and licensing 9. Stacks maintenance

3. Subscription processing, routine renewal, and termination

10. Circulation

4. Receipt and check-in 11. Reference and Research

5. Routing of Issues and/or Tables of Contents

12. User Instruction

6. Cataloging 13. Preservation

7. Linking Services 14. Other

Data Collection: Excluded Costs

• Electronic infrastructure. • Microform. • ILL.

We have some evidence on these costs, which suggests that they would not have meaningfully affected the results.

Data Collection: Participating Libraries

Small Medium Large

Bryn Mawr College

George Mason University

Cornell University

Franklin & Marshall College

Drexel University

New York University

Suffolk University

Western Carolina University

University of Pittsburgh

Williams College

Yale University

Data Collection: Collections Covered

• Bryn Mawr (all libraries)

• Drexel (all libraries)

• Franklin & Marshall (all libraries)

• Western Carolina (all libraries)

• University of Pittsburgh (all libraries)

Data Collection: Collections Covered

• Cornell (excludes several, including law and medicine)

• George Mason (excludes law library)• NYU (excludes law and medicine) • Suffolk (excludes law library)• Williams (excludes department libraries)• Yale (Sterling collections only)

Overview: Annual Non-Subscription Spending on Periodicals ($ millions)

Overview: Share of Annual Non-Subscription Budget by Format

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Yale (L) NYU(L)

Bryn M.(S)

Pitt (L) Cornell(L)

GMU(M)

F&M(S)

Williams(S)

WCU(M)

Drexel(M)

Suffolk(S)

Electronic

Print

Life-Cycle Approach: Overview

• We have used a life-cycle approach for analysis

• Examined a 25-year period• The long-term financial commitment that a

library makes when accessioning one year of a typical periodical

Life-Cycle Approach: Overview

• Grouped costs into one-time and recurring components

• Calculated costs per title• Space occupied by print backfiles is

charged at high-efficiency off-campus rates.

• Net present value analysis, 5% discount rate

Life-Cycle Findings: Print

Life-Cycle Findings: Electronic

Life-Cycle Findings: Format Comparison

$-

$50

$100

$150

$200

$250

$300

$350

$400

BrynMawr

F&M Suffolk Williams Drexel GeorgeMason

WesternCarolina

Cornell NYU Pitt Yale

Electronic

Print

Small Medium Large

Implications: Cost Reduction for Electronic-Only Collection ($ thousands)

$0

$100

$200

$300

$400

$500

$600

$700

Suffolk(S)

Drexel(M)

WesternCarolina

(M)

F&M(S)

Williams(S)

Yale (L) BrynMawr

(S)

GeorgeMason

(M)

Pitt (L) Cornell(L)

NYU(L)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Yale Pitt Cornell GeorgeMason

Williams WesternCarolina

NYU BrynMawr

F&M

Implications: Cost Reduction as % of Total Annual Non-Subscription Costs

Implications: Caveats

• Underestimated print:– STM omitted at several schools– Duplicate subscriptions omitted – Microform omitted– ILL omitted

• Underestimated electronic:– Electronic infrastructure

• Net, we believe this has led us to underestimate print costs

Implications: What Else Is Missing?

Electronic archiving. There is no contribution to archiving of

electronic periodicals at any of the participating libraries. These are missing only from the electronic and not from the print format.

Conclusions

1. Non-subscription unit costs are lower in the electronic format compared with print. Because:

• As has been widely foreseen, some manual processes can be eliminated.

• More electronic costs occur earlier in the life-cycle, while more print costs occur later in the life-cycle.

Conclusions

2. Although there are potential total cost reductions, these are less significant than some have expected.Because:

• At the larger institutions that have the most print subscriptions, long-standing print operations have already achieved economies of scale.

• Institutions with smaller print holdings tend to have much larger electronic collections.

Conclusions

3. The potential cost reductions assume no contributions towards electronic archiving.

• It is important to note that if we value the long-term accessibility of electronic resources, archiving them will somehow have to be paid for.

• It remains to be seen to what extent any cost reductions might be re-directed towards other purposes, such as electronic archiving.

Conclusions

4. This study has only just been concluded, and we are still considering the implications of our findings. Other conclusions?

Eileen Fenton and Roger Schonfeldwww.jstor.org