Shifting from Print to Electronic Journals in ARL University Libraries

Abstract

AbstractThis study tracked journal subscription and format data for a sample of 515 journals in the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) university member libraries from 2002 to 2006. During this period, subscriptions to journals in print format decreased by 32 percentage points, whereas journals obtained in electronic format increased by 34 percentage points. Findings show journal collections in ARL university libraries reached a “tipping point” between 2005 and 2006 and that, for the first time, electronic journals dominate print subscriptions. AcknowledgmentsEdward T. O'Neill, Consulting Research Scientist at OCLC Research, drew the sample for the study. Gayathri Gudemaranahalli, Carolyn Hank, and Kiffany Francis in their role of research interns assisted in data collection, cleaning, and analysis of data. Kiffany Francis also provided editorial help. The contributions of these individuals are greatly appreciated.