| Librarians and researchers throughout Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet Union consistently
identify donations of Western journals as one of
the most needed forms of assistance. Several
journal donation projects have been established
to provide the region with journals covering a
wide range of subjects. Like book donation
projects, they have pursued a variety of
approaches and met with mixed results.
The main donation projects in
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are
run through the New School for Social Research,
the International Science Foundation (ISF)
and the American Association for the
Advancement of Science (AAAS). The New School's
journal donation project focuses primarily on the
social sciences and humanities. The ISF and AAAS
projects concentrate on the natural sciences,
medicine and engineering. In addition, a major
new project in the social sciences will be
launched in the next year by the Open Society
Institute in Budapest, and a discount
purchase project in the natural sciences
sponsored by the Sabre Foundation is in
its initial phases. A variety of learned
societies and individual publishers have
contributed donations and substantial discounts
to institutions throughout the region.
The ISF project, which
currently is limited to the former Soviet Union,
is designed as a stop-gap effort to assist
scientific research. The program reaches 350
central scientific and university libraries in
the former Soviet Union. Recipients have been
selected by panels of experts in the former
Soviet Union and the West on the basis of their
research productivity. During the initial phase
of the project, which is set to run through the
end of 1994, the content of donations has been
determined by ISF, with some input from
recipients. In all, the project distributes
between fifty and sixty subscriptions to 107
titles. Recipients receive a varying number of
journals, depending upon their location,
specialties and needs. About 20-25 receive
complete sets of all 107 titles.
The titles are either donated
or purchased at substantial discounts. In all,
journals with a value (if purchased at
institutional rates) of approximately $7 million
have been acquired for slightly more than $1.35
million. The journals have been acquired from
learned societies, and commercial and university
publishers. All donations are printed editions.
ISF is seeking funding to continue the current
program, to expand it geographically to
incorporate Eastern Europe and to offer recipient
institutions greater input into the selection of
titles. It also seeks to make available its vast
distribution network to other interested
organizations.
The American Association for
the Advancement of Science journal donation
project sends science journals to libraries in
the former Soviet Union. Currently, the project
sends 12 copies of 138 journals to 21 academy,
public, university and medical libraries in
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev and Minsk.
Subscriptions last for two years. Many of the
journals, which are published by 17 U.S.
scientific societies, are donated; others are
acquired at publishers' cost. The project is
currently funded through June 1995.
The Sabre Foundation has
recently introduced a reduced-cost scientific,
technical and medical journal service in Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet Union. The service
makes available discounted subscriptions to
commercial scientific publications from European
and American publishers. Its discounts average 50
percent. Subscriptions are available for up to
three years and are offered to both public and
private institutions whose efforts primarily
focus on educational, scientific or scholarly
purposes.
The New School Journal
Donation Project provides journal
subscriptions to libraries throughout Eastern
Europe and the former Soviet Union. The project,
which began in 1991, donates 15 to 20
subscriptions to over 600 publications, primarily
in the social sciences and the humanities, but
also in scientific and medical fields.
Subscriptions are normally for two or three year
periods, though some are ongoing. Nearly all
donations set to expire at the end of 1993 have
been renewed for a second 2-3 year period.
The New School distributes
subscriptions among approximately 220 libraries,
which normally receive between 10 and 50 titles.
The recipient libraries are responsible for
selecting journals from lists of available titles.
However, with the limited number of subscriptions
available for each publication, many requests for
the most essential and popular publications are
rejected. Some libraries, particularly in Poland,
Hungary, and the Baltic republics, have
benefitted more than others because of their
earlier involvement in the project. The imbalance
is being partially redressed, as a large number
of the 1994-1996 subscriptions are being sent to
libraries in Ukraine, Romania and Moldova.
The New School project has
recently received additional funds to expand its
activities through the purchase of a limited
number of core disciplinary journals at steep
discounts. These journals will be provided to
major libraries which entered the project after
the allocation of many of the core disciplinary
journals had been completed. Subscriptions will
last from three to five years.
The Open Society Institute
in Budapest will soon launch a program to support
the purchase of social science and humanities
journals in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet
Union. The project, as it is currently structured,
will provide approximately 160 recipient
libraries with $6,000 worth of credits towards
the purchase of journals, chosen from a list of
approximately 400 titles. The list was created on
the basis of recommendations of academics and
learned societies. All subscriptions will last
for one year and will be purchased at
institutional rates.
There are several other sources
of journal donations and support for journal
purchases in the region. The United States
Information Agency has provided funding for
journal subscriptions, though funding for such
purposes has recently been reduced from $40,000
per year to $10,000. Learned societies ranging
from the American Physical Society to the
American Historical Association, offer a limited
number of donations to eligible individuals and
institutions. Moreover, learned societies
frequently offer discounts to institutions which
request support. Commercial publishers are less
generous, providing discounts in the 5-20 percent
range.
As with book donation projects,
journal donors and suppliers have not created any
internal mechanisms to assess the impact of their
donations other than to measure the volume of
deliveries. However, the interviews and surveys
conducted for this report provide useful insights
into the nature of journal donation projects and
their impact on the region.
Donors and suppliers of Western
journals tend to over-emphasize the quantity,
rather than the quality, of the journals they
donate. While many donors and suppliers point to
the vast quantity of journals sent to the region,
librarians and faculty members often complain
that the journals which they receive are of
limited utility because of their relatively
obscure subject matter. Recipients consistently
indicate that they would prefer to receive fewer
donations of higher quality.
The difficulties of quality
control are in many cases a product of the
selection process. Many librarians indicate that
they have difficulty making selections from the
lists provided to them by suppliers, particularly
by the New School Journal Donation Project. The
core journals, with which many librarians are
familiar, frequently are fully subscribed,
leaving 'second-tier' journals from which to
select. Librarians often are unfamiliar with the
content of 'second-tier' journals and have become
disappointed when the journals which they receive
do not correspond to their expectations or needs.
The problem is compounded by the lack of faculty
input in the selection process (see section 3.21).
The New School, and others who choose to follow a
list system might improve the selection process
by offering potential recipients sample tables of
contents of their offerings. Those tables of
contents could be distributed by mail or, better,
by representatives of Western teaching
organizations who are present in the region and
who might be familiar with many of the listed
journals.
There is no perfect solution to
the problem of selection. Many librarians in the
region are well aware of their needs and have
prepared lists of desired titles. When ISF
requested recommendations for titles from its
recipient libraries, it received over 2,000. Such
a large number would be a logistical nightmare to
sort and would prove costly because of the
difficulty of arranging discounts. ISF's
alternative -- donations determined largely by a
panel of experts -- is considered overly
restrictive by some of the recipients. ISF is now
considering a policy of giving librarians more
input and is planning to expand its offerings
when a sufficient number of recipients request
the same title.
The Open Society Institute's
approach of permitting libraries to choose from a
broad yet selective list of journals, and to
spend from a set budget, has many benefits. First,
it allows for the screening of many relatively
superfluous titles. Second, it provides libraries
the 'core' journals which are most in demand.
Third, it forces libraries to budget money for
their purchases and thereby requires librarians,
some of whom are poorly acquainted with market
realities (because they have no money to spend),
to consider the financial implications of their
selections. The main drawback to the Open Society
Institute's approach, as it is now conceived, is
that most purchases will be made at or near
institutional rates. The libraries will thus lose
considerable purchasing power.
Probably the most consistent
comment made by librarians in interviews and
surveys is that it is an absolute necessity that
journal donations be made in the form of
subscriptions for a minimum of three years and
preferably five years or more. Many librarians
claim that donations for shorter periods are
nearly useless, and object to the implicit
pressure which such donations place on them to
continue the subscription. They would prefer to
receive fewer journals for a longer period of
time.
The New School project adheres
to preference in most cases, but ISF and AAAS
offer only two years worth of subscriptions, and
the Open Society Institutes's project foresees
only one year subscriptions. A longer term
approach, even if it required greater limits on
selection, might yield better results.
Similarly, librarians object to
donations, often offered by major book suppliers,
of short-term collections of back issues. A
donation of a collection from a single journal
from 1982-1984 is unlikely to have a significant
impact, particularly if the library possesses no
prior or subsequent issues of the same journal.
One area of concern for
donation projects, particularly those in which
recipients do not have significant input on
donated titles, is overlap. In some instances,
more than one donor donates the same title to the
same library, as the AAAS and ISF have done in
the former Soviet Union. In other cases, more
than one library at the same institution, and at
times in the same building, receives the same
title. The danger of such duplication is
particularly high in the Czech Republic, the
Slovak Republic and Hungary, where there is a
plethora of department and faculty libraries.
Three remedies to the problem
of overlapping donations are available. First,
donors could increase consultation among
themselves. Organizations which store their
distribution information on databases could,
quite easily, provide that information to other
donors in the region. Second, donors could
examine more closely the relationship between
recipient libraries. Department libraries located
in the same building or in relative proximity
should not receive the same journals, especially
if subscriptions are limited. Instead, efforts
should be directed at improving communication
between libraries at the same institution. Third,
donation projects could consult potential
recipients about their current subscriptions and
adjust their donations accordingly.
Donated journals are often
inaccessible, although they are accessible more
often than book donations. Investigations of
libraries which received donations reveal an
average disappearance rate at approximately 25
percent.[8] As
with book donations, there were instances of
journals found in faculty members' and librarians'
offices. In one case, only when a librarian was
confronted with a list of donations were the
journals 'found'. In other cases, journals were
kept in faculty libraries and their use by
students was restricted.
Journal donations are also poorly publicized.
Many libraries in Eastern Europe keep journals on
closed stacks and, as a result, faculty members
and students are unaware of new acquisitions.
Awareness of journal donations might be increased
if donors, suppliers and distributors were to
require recipients to make a special list of
donated materials available in the cataloguing
room of the library. That list might include
information about other libraries in the same
institution (which is necessary because faculty
and department libraries, even those in near
proximity, frequently fail to communicate with
each other). Donors might also assist users by
sending lists of donated materials to faculty
members, or at least to departments, as well as
to other libraries at the same institution.
Although it was not possible to
establish a consistent means of checking whether
donated journals are actually read,
circumstantial evidence suggests that they are
used less often than donors expect. Especially in
the social sciences, many journals appear to be
used rarely. Readers prefer newspapers or current
affairs publications, perhaps due in part to the
relatively obscure nature of many of the donated
journals.
In a few instances, librarians
placed sheets of paper inside of journals which
asked readers to indicate when they had consulted
the journals. Most of these sheets in social
science journals were blank. For the natural
sciences and medicine, there appeared to be
considerably greater interest. Donors might be
advised to adopt such a system on a regular basis
in order to identify whether and which
publications are used, and to focus their
resources on desired journals and receptive
libraries.
The success of journal donation
projects is unquestionably affected by the mode
of distribution. Different organizations have
used different methods. The New School has
journals sent directly from publishers via
surface mail. AAAS uses Matrix International,
which delivers journals door to door in the
former Soviet Union. ISF has established its own
distribution network through its representatives
throughout the former Soviet Union.
The choice of distribution
system depends on two factors: cost and the speed
with which journals need to reach their
recipients. Delivery of journals in Eastern
Europe by Western companies is generally
expensive but reliable. The surface mail appears
to work in the Visegrad countries, so the high
expenditures for Western delivery services are
unwarranted, unless timeliness is crucial. The
former Soviet Union is a different story.
Libraries do receive journals successfully via
surface-mail, but the postal system loses
journals at a relatively high rate and journals
usually take a considerable amount of time to
reach their destination.
There are alternatives to
paying distributors. Many state libraries and
academies of science have long-established
distribution networks which are cheaper than
Western firms. In addition, entirely new networks
can be established. ISF has now created its own
distribution system in the former Soviet Union.
Other donors might, in the future, be able to
feed into that system.
The ability of libraries to
purchase Western journals varies throughout the
region and even within individual countries.
In the Czech Republic, the
capacity of most libraries to purchase Western
journals has increased dramatically over the last
few years. Only 6 percent of the libraries
surveyed indicated that they experienced declines
in purchases of Western journals over the last
three years, while 53 percent reported
substantial increases and 35 percent reported
moderate increases. In the Slovak Republic,
Estonia and Romania, libraries reported overall
increases in their purchases of Western journals,
though a significant number of libraries reduced
their purchases.[9]
Some, and in Romania's case many, institutions
still require the assistance of Western donors.
Other countries reported declines in purchases
of Western journals. In Latvia, Lithuania,
Ukraine and Bulgaria, the majority of libraries
have reduced their purchases of Western journals
over the last three years. In Poland and Hungary,
over 40 percent of libraries indicated that their
purchases of Western journals over the last three
years have declined.
Librarians' predictions of their future
capacity to purchase Western journals are not
optimistic. While librarians in the Czech
Republic generally remain sanguine, those in most
other countries, particularly in the Slovak
Republic and Poland, have a great fear of their
institutions' future purchasing power.
The dire financial conditions of many
libraries suggest that discount purchasing
projects, like Sabre's, will have a limited
impact. While they will be of considerable value
in the Czech Republic, and, to a lesser extent,
in Hungary and the Slovak Republic, on a region-wide
basis they are not a viable alternative to
donation projects.
Table Three:
Faculty Without Reasonable Access to 'Essential'
Foreign Journals
Arts/Social Natural/TechScie
Sciences nces, Medicine
Czech 70% 74%
Republic
Slovak 64% 50%
Republic
Hungary 87% N/A
Poland 50% 53%
Bulgaria 100% 92%
Estonia 33% 73%
Latvia 50% 94%
Lithuania N/A N/A
Romania 85% 84%
Ukraine 82% 100%
The influx of journal donations has not
satisfied the demand for journals in the region.
Librarians and faculty members consistently cite
journals as one of the most needed forms, if not
the most needed form, of assistance. Given the
choice among nine different forms of donation,
ranging from general book donations to
computerization of library resources, librarians
only ranked reference books higher.[10] Journals are in
particularly high demand in the natural and
engineering sciences and medicine, where current
information is crucial.
The demand for journals is further highlighted
by faculty members, a large percentage of whom
indicate that they do not have reasonable access
to foreign journals which they consider to be
essential to their work (see table three).
The most common request, in terms of specific
needs, is for scientific, medical and technical
abstracts. These abstracts provide invaluable
information about current research and references
to articles of fundamental interest to
researchers. They also are extremely expensive,
and publishers are loath to donate them.
In addition to abstracts, libraries in the
region require donations of indexes to journals
in both the social and natural sciences. Those
indexes are important for two reasons. First,
they allow researchers to make better use of
journals which are already present in libraries,
particularly when journals are kept on closed
stacks. Second, indexes can provide information
about useful articles which potential users might
find in other recipient libraries or through
alternative means.
A third need which is rarely addressed by
donors is back-issues of journals. Many
librarians cite a need for back issues,
particularly for journals on economics. In some
instances, recipients would like to acquire back-issues
of donated titles. In many cases, libraries are
missing two or three years of issues. Donor
organizations may be able to emulate ISF and
donate back issues along with current
subscriptions.
Libraries in the region also need donations of
journals from other Eastern European and former
Soviet countries. With the breakdown of trade
between the former COMECON members and the
skyrocketing cost of subscriptions across the
region, the volume of intra-regional journal
subscriptions has plummeted. For example, in the
Czech Republic and Hungary, where many
institutions have been able to increase their
volume of Western subscriptions, the volume of
subscriptions from Eastern Europe has fallen
drastically. In Ukraine, access to Russian
journals has declined substantially.
A project which included donations of East
European journals would offer great benefits. It
would re-institute a high level of intra-regional
communication, which is often lacking. It also
would support the region's flagging publishing
industry, provided that the project involves some
form of payment for the subscriptions.
A final item on the list of needs neglected by
donor organizations is material providing
information on current affairs. Students in
particular voiced concerns about the absence of
objective contemporary material. Where such
material is available, it appears to be extremely
popular. Subscriptions to newspapers and to
contemporary publications on conditions in
Eastern Europe, such as Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty Research Report, would be of
tremendous assistance to students and faculty
members alike.
Computer and other technologies
provide a variety of means through which journals
and other information can be sent to the region.
Alternative media, such as CD-ROM, microfiche and
on-line networks can provide the same information
at lower distribution costs. They should be
considered as potential and long-term
alternatives to journal donations.
Many libraries, especially in
the Czech Republic and Hungary, already own CD-ROM
readers. Several of those libraries had multiple,
networked machines. The University of Economics
in Prague, for example, has a larger network than
most North American universities. The
desirability and availability of CD-ROMs and CD-ROM
databases in the Czech Republic is underlined by
their popularity among those surveyed, who rank
them as the most preferred form of donation. The
situation in the Czech Republic contrasts
strongly with that in Ukraine and Romania, where
many librarians are unfamiliar with CD-ROM
technology.
In spite of the networks which
exist in some of the libraries of Central
European countries, CD-ROM technology is seldom
used to its full potential. Frequently, the
intricacy of the networks is not matched by the
volume of databases available on them. Donors to
the Czech Republic and Hungary could increase the
utility of networks by initiating programs to
offer donations of, or discounts on, CD-ROM
databases (and not simply for journals), or by
coupling gifts of CD-ROM hardware with those of
software. The coupling of hardware and software
donations might persuade distributors of
databases to offer larger discounts.
The advantage of CD-ROM
technology is multi-fold. First, donations of
databases, provided that they were contingent
upon broad accessibility to networks, would
increase the difficulty for individuals to
monopolize information. Second, CD-ROM technology
facilitates the acquisition of back issues of
publications. Third, the distribution of
information on CD-ROM is considerably easier and
far less expensive than on paper. Finally,
donations of CD-ROM hardware and software clearly
direct recipients towards the future.
The declining capacity of
libraries to purchase foreign journals and the
great demand for journals among faculty members
suggest that journal donations will be needed
well into the future.
Journal donation projects,
however, frequently suffer from shortsightedness
and an emphasis on breadth over depth. Journal
donation projects which offer short-term
subscriptions are expensive, offer limited
returns and place pressure on libraries to expend
their limited resources. Donations of 'second-tier'
journals are of limited utility, especially when
many libraries do not have 'core' disciplinary
journals. Journal donation projects also suffer
from the same problems related to access and
publicity as book donation projects.
The effectiveness of journal
donations might be enhanced in the following ways:
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