The changing role of subject librarians in academic libraries

Discusses the roles that subject librarians (or 'subject specialists') play in contemporary UK academic libraries. Argues that subject librarians, who still form a significant grouping of senior staff in most UK academic libraries, continue to have a significant role to play in the delivery of library services and that applies to both traditional and electronic library services. Discusses the traditional role of subject librarians and analyzes the way in which this role is changing. Those areas where the changing responsibilities are extensions of traditional roles into new areas are pinpointed, together with examples of where subject librarians are performing new roles and adopting new ways of working. Areas where the changing role of subject librarians can be specifically identified include: greater emphasis on liaison with users; advocacy of the collections; adopting new roles; dealing with user enquiries in new ways; working with technical staff; selecting electronic library materials; carrying out more information skills training; having a greater involvement in the implementation of educational technology; team working and project working. Presents practical examples based on experiences at Nottingham university and other UK research libraries. The redesign and relaunch of Nottingham University Library Web site is described to illustrate many of these points.

Electronic Publishing : the evolution and economics of a hybrid journal.

The technical, social and economic issues of electronic publishing are examined by using as a case study the evolution of the journal Electronic Publishing Origination, Dissemination and Design (EP-odd) which is published by John Wiley Ltd. The journal is a `hybrid' one, in the sense that it appears in both electronic and paper form, and is now in its ninth year of publication. The author of this paper is the journal's Editor-in- Chief. The first eight volumes of EP-odd have been distributed via the conventional subscription method but a new method, from volume 9 onwards, is now under discussion whereby accepted papers will first be published on the EP-odd web site, with the printed version appearing later as a once-per-volume operation. Later sections of the paper lead on from the particular experiences with EP-odd into a more general discussion of peer review and the acceptability of e-journals in universities, the changing role of libraries, the sustainability of traditional subscription pricing and the prospects for `per paper' sales as micro-payment technologies become available.