Washington–Don’t lock your special collections away in neglected corners of the library — use them to teach students about the possibilities and principles of research. Such collections should be put to use as laboratories where students work hands-on with primary documents, incorporate them ….

source: Chronicle of Higher Education

New York, NY September 29 – As large-scale digitization efforts ensue, how do libraries determine when to retain print collections? What to Withdraw: Print Collections Management in the Wake of Digitization , a new report released today from Ithaka S+R, the strategy and research arm of the not-for-profit organization ITHAKA  www.ithaka.org), analyzes which types of journals can be withdrawn responsibly today and how that set of materials can be expanded to allow libraries the maximum possible flexibility and savings in the future.

“Determining the value of retaining print after its digitization requires a system-wide analysis of the needs of all libraries and their users collectively, rather than focusing only on a region, a system, or a consortium,” stated Roger Schonfeld, Manager of Research at Ithaka S+R and co-author of this report. “Our analysis indicates that libraries today can safely de-accession certain print holdings that are adequately preserved in digital and print form elsewhere.”

Analyzing the rationales for retaining and preserving scholarly journals in print format, the report proposes minimum time periods for which some system-wide access to print versions is required. Then, based on a study commissioned by Ithaka S+R and conducted by Candace Yano, a professor of industrial engineering and operations research and in the Haas School of Business at UC Berkley, the report proposes the minimum number of print copies that are required today depending on their condition.

Based on this analysis, the report concludes that certain print journal backfile sets are well enough digitized and contain few enough images that there is likely to be virtually no demand for them by users, and are sufficiently well preserved digitally and in print repositories that libraries can responsibly withdraw their own print holdings.

At the same time, the report warns that other print materials may not yet be ready for broad withdrawal without raising risks unduly. For these materials, a number of strategies are recommended for allowing libraries increased flexibility in the future. First, organizations responsible for digitization programs should provide more transparency on the quality of their digitization work and should participate in an ongoing effort to upgrade the quality of the scans. In addition, libraries should deepen existing collaborations around print preservation, perhaps bringing in publishers and other digitizers as partners in this effort.

“Libraries are right to push aggressively into the digital future but should do so with an awareness about risk and tradeoffs,”
stated Ross Housewright, analyst and co-author. “There is an opportunity before us to make a system-wide impact on print collection management, but in order to do so libraries and digitizers need to commit to collaboration at a level unseen today.”

Ithaka S+R
Ithaka S+R  www.ithaka.org) is the strategy and research arm of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. The Ithaka S+R team supports innovation in higher education by working with initiatives and organizations to develop sustainable business models and by conducting research and analysis on the impact of digital media on the academic community as a whole. Insights from these efforts are shared broadly, with more than a dozen reports freely available online. JSTOR, an accessible archive of more than 1,000 scholarly journals and other content, and Portico, a service that preserves content published in electronic form for future generations, are also part of ITHAKA.

Contact:
Heidi McGregor
VP Marketing & Communications
ITHAKA
 heidi.mcgregor at ithaka.org