Questions from Emma Obata
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: Civic Journalism
Emma Obata, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, asked:
Why is SLU's journal database (online and print) so skeletal for some majors and robust for others?
After speaking with Georgia Baugh, Electronic Resources Reference Librarian, the process of how the databases are determined has had some light shed on it.
"First, I am not sure that the SLU Libraries' collections of print and ejournals supporting University majors are uneven. Since the questioner did not give an example of what she thinks has less than some other major, I am unable to speak to relevant subjects," Baugh said.
According to Baugh, there are many factors that determine which articles and journals are placed into the database, but there is a basic, general process that is acted out in order to choose documents.
"Liaison Librarians" work with the various departments at Saint Louis University in order to "provide the materials necessary to support the curriculum." Along with cooperating with the liaisons, faculty members can suggest new materials using an online form and the requests are "reviewed annually in September and added if money is available to do so."
In terms of an unbalanced collection between majors and departments, Baugh gives the reasoning that this "might" occur because "some disciplines are more 'book centric,' such as the humanities, and some are more 'journal centric,' such as the sciences."
The journals are more readily available and SLU Libraries subscribe to a multitude of outside online journal databases. Even though these databases are "cost effective," the University itself cannot determine the content, so availability is left to the discretion of the database producer.
"To sum up, we base our journal purchases on faculty recommendation, cost, budget [availability] and historical use," Baugh said.
-Reporting by Sean Worley
Why is SLU's journal database (online and print) so skeletal for some majors and robust for others?
After speaking with Georgia Baugh, Electronic Resources Reference Librarian, the process of how the databases are determined has had some light shed on it.
"First, I am not sure that the SLU Libraries' collections of print and ejournals supporting University majors are uneven. Since the questioner did not give an example of what she thinks has less than some other major, I am unable to speak to relevant subjects," Baugh said.
According to Baugh, there are many factors that determine which articles and journals are placed into the database, but there is a basic, general process that is acted out in order to choose documents.
"Liaison Librarians" work with the various departments at Saint Louis University in order to "provide the materials necessary to support the curriculum." Along with cooperating with the liaisons, faculty members can suggest new materials using an online form and the requests are "reviewed annually in September and added if money is available to do so."
In terms of an unbalanced collection between majors and departments, Baugh gives the reasoning that this "might" occur because "some disciplines are more 'book centric,' such as the humanities, and some are more 'journal centric,' such as the sciences."
The journals are more readily available and SLU Libraries subscribe to a multitude of outside online journal databases. Even though these databases are "cost effective," the University itself cannot determine the content, so availability is left to the discretion of the database producer.
"To sum up, we base our journal purchases on faculty recommendation, cost, budget [availability] and historical use," Baugh said.
-Reporting by Sean Worley
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