Towards the reforming of scholarly communication system : Efforts by Japan Association of National University Libraries

Abstract

In recent years academic libraries have set up consortia to purchase e-journals. While the number of accessible e-journal titles has dramatically increased by a comprehensive agreement called Big Deal, some serious issues have become visible. In this article the actual situations of price increase of scholarly journals and serials crisis caused by it are outlined. Next the results and limitations of e-journal consortial activities are discussed. Finally the efforts by Japanese Association of National University Libraries in order to reform the current scholarly communication system controlled by some commercial publishers mentioned are mentioned.