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The university research library of the 21st century will be a physical place on campus intertwined with a digital presence on student and faculty computers.

I just want to point out that this is a link to an actual library, not an article about a future library. It is great to see a defined mission statement for what this library is becoming. It makes it clear to students and faculty (and just as important: donors) that the library is more than books and journals.

Now, most of the attention on changes in scholarly publishing has been focused on e-journals. We wish to expand that circle of light so that it takes in the indexing of serials. The index, as every scholar knows, is critical to the quality of the research. The value of a library's serial collection is only as good as its indexing. What scholar has not wondered about the impact of overlapping, inconsistent, and incomplete indexing services on their work? When the weaknesses of the current indexing services are matched against the potential of open-access systems, we may have a tipping point in convincing scholars that the profession would be far better served by open-access publishing systems. We argue that a primary candidate for scholarly publishing's tipping point is the coherence, integration, and precision that these open-access systems can bring to the scholarly exchange and enhancement of knowledge, especially when compared to the current state of the serial index and the hit-and-miss of full-text Web searches.

There is a chart of costs of some electronic indexes, although it may be outdates (2000-01). This article examines the degree of overlap between different academic databases.

The scholarly monograph has been compared to the Hapsburg monarchy in that it seems to have been in decline forever! Many publishers, university administrators and academic researchers are still largely wedded to historical and Balkanized Web 1.0 monograph settings. While the ramifications of the fall of the Hapsburg empire are still being felt today in geopolitical terms, university presses can rise phoenix-like through 21st century digital environments and the reworking of scholarly communication frameworks. New e-press developments will provide greater accessibility to scholarly monographic content. Peer-reviewed, digitally constructed monographs, available within open scholarship institutional frameworks, will increasingly be the 2.0 and 3.0 models for scholarly publishing.

A 2004 article about the estimated costs for the print-to-digital transition at the University of California. Discusses the idea of a central print repository to back up electronic journals. Some numbers discussed, but not many.

This study confirms what other studies have: younger users embrace electronic resources, as do the scientific community. Other users are slower adopters of electronic resources.

Evaluating e-books nationwide - JISC national e-books observatory project In this ground-breaking project over 120 UK universities will receive two years free access to reading materials in e-book form to support students studying in Business and Management, Medicine, Media Studies and Engineering. Titles will be licensed from a variety of publishers / aggregator in order to create mulit-publisher subject collections that are based on demand. During September to December 2007 these titles will be embedded in host institutions and their existence promoted. Then for a period of 12 months from January 2008 the use and impact of these titles in universities will be monitored by CIBER UCL employing deep log analysis (DLA) and follow-up qualitative work will be undertaken by University of Wales (Aberystwyth). Altogether it is expected that the National E-books Observatory will monitor and evaluate the behaviour of tens of thousands of UK students and faculty.

This is the initial data from a Deep Log Analysis study currently underway in the UK. The study analyzes the clicking behavior of ebook users, and then places that data into context: do people go to the brick-and-mortar library, or stay home? How long do they spend reading the books or articles? This report captures the results of 20,000 e-book users in the UK between January and May, 2008.

INASP's work focuses on communication, knowledge and networks, with particular emphasis on the needs of developing and emerging countries. We respond to their national priorities for: * access to national and international scholarly information and knowledge * capacities to use, create, manage and communicate scholarly information and knowledge via appropriate ICTs * national, regional and international co-operation, networking and knowledge exchange We also advise and advocate for improved policy and practice in achieving sustainable and equitable development through effective communication, knowledge and networks.