Management of Electronic Serials in Academic Libraries: The Results of an Online Survey

Abstract

This article presents the results of an online survey of academic librarians conducted in 2011 on the topic of electronic serials management. Since online journals had by 2011 become a major part of academic library serials collections, a central objective of this survey was to explore whether this had led to any degree of standardization in online serials management procedures across academic libraries. The focus of the survey was generally on issues affecting technical services, specifically exploring the impact of electronic serials on collection development, library staffing, and serials management tools. The responses to the survey did not reflect any significant level of uniformity among these libraries in any of these areas, suggesting that libraries primarily take into account the needs of their own institutions when formulating procedures for managing online serials.