Changing Library Services – Smithsonian Libraries Unbound

" ... For example, commercial abstracting and indexing services have seen little market growth in recent years and some have developed other services, including meta-discovery tools such as OneSearch currently used by the Smithsonian Libraries, and bibliographic management tools such as RefWorks and Mendeley, also in use by the Smithsonian Libraries. Likewise, many commercial, subscription-based publishers have begun to see the market for new titles become extremely limited. I’ve heard publishing professionals say that few if any traditional subscription journals have been launched in the last 5 years. That’s why most major commercial publishers have initiated open access (OA) journals which derive revenue primarily from author payments rather than library subscriptions. This new service requires a different business model but comes in response to market changes: flat library subscription budgets and a corresponding grassroots effort to make scholarship widely available. Libraries have for years used subscription agents to manage the hundreds or thousands of individual titles or publisher invoices that would swamp most library staffs. With subscription journals becoming a stagnant business, some agents have experimented with other services such as managing an institution’s article processing charge. As publishing support moves from subscriptions to author-payments, some of these companies feel there is a market for managing these payments on behalf of institutions. (It is worth noting however that the one company which did begin an APC management service, Swets, recently filed for bankruptcy). Research assessment is becoming more important to administration and several traditional library service companies such as Thomson Reuters, Elsevier and EBSCO have launched services aimed not at library readers and users but at university and institutional administration. The development of services such as Converis, SciVal and EBSCO’s purchase of Plum Analytics show the recognition by familiar library service providers of the changes which are happening to research libraries. The same adaptation to user needs could be said of libraries themselves; services being offered are branching off from the traditional print collection building and reference that has defined libraries for the duration of their existence. Publishing, data management and scholarly communication consultation are a few things that research libraries have begun offering users lately. The Smithsonian Libraries has developed new services aimed at new audiences as well. For example the Libraries supports Institutional units by archiving electronic copies and creating DOIs (digital object identifiers) for their publications. The Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press is among the users of this service but it has expanded to include the Global Volcanism Network, the Biodiversity Heritage Library and almost any Smithsonian-published materials deposited in the Smithsonian Research Online digital repository ..."