Access, preservation and analysis in a consortial journal archive: the evolution of Scholars Portal Journals

Abstract:  This article discusses Scholars Portal Journals (SP Journals), a library consortium-run platform that aggregates and archives licensed scholarly journal content in the province of Ontario, Canada. Born in the early days of e-journals out of a need to provide consistent and long-term access to scholarly materials in the sometimes volatile world of online publishing, SP Journals has evolved into a major digital repository and archive. With over 55 million full-text articles and serving a student population of just under half a million, SP Journals represents a major investment in access to online scholarship. This article explains the lifecycle of content on the platform, from initial publisher negotiations to delivering usage reports, and discusses considerations of running a locally hosted journal platform.