Elsevier Talks About Journal Cuts
This interview with Elsevier’s global director for corporate communications is almost three weeks old, but I saw it today on LISNews.com and thought it was worth a mention, especially since I haven’t included any coverage of Elsevier’s perspective in my posts about the recent developments regarding libraries’ subscriptions to Elsevier’s journals.
The director claims that cuts aren’t as bad as they sound like they might be and emphasizes that most are duplicates or libraries going with e-versions over print editions. What he doesn’t say is that these measures taken by libraries are on the list of last resorts. Many libraries are probably dropping duplicate copies before they cancel subscriptions completely. If an electronic edition is better in the long run than cancelling a print copy completely, librarians may make that decision. Once duplicates go and the switch from paper to electronic is made, what’s the next choice for a library?
