Academic Literature

Science is a collective effort in which we build on and expand the work of others. One of the most fundamental steps in the scientific process is the literature survey. If a scientist has an idea for an experiment or a theory they go and check all the published scientific work to see if anyone else has tried it. Keeping up with the literature is crucial because it can generate new ideas for work; so-and-so has some evidence for this but they need more proof using a different type of experiment or 'I wonder if they measured this or that'. Having access to the body of scientific journals is, therefore, crucial. In the olden days paper copies of each volume of all the journals would be kept in the library or academics would send off for copies of articles the library didn't have.

Now things have changed. The library here at York is getting rid of a lot of its journal volumes. They don't need the space. York has just had a second huge library built next to the existing one. They claim it is because no one loans the journals out. This is ridiculous. Of course no-one borrows the journals. They just photocopy the one article they need then put it back on the shelf. But why is this a problem? Aren't the journals available online now I hear you ask? No. We only have access to articles from 1995 in some of the main journals. We here in the surface science department only have access to articles in the journal Surface Science from the last 12 years even though there are important articles in that journal from way back. OK we have paper copies in the library but the process of thinning out resources means that for some articles there is no overlap and we have to send away for copies. This used to be free. Now they are to charge £2 per article. That's £2 of public money for a photocopy of a few A4 pages. The upshot of all this is that academics might be tempted to stick with the journals they have easy access to . Hard to obtain articles will only be brought in when the author is certain of their use. Important work or ideas might be ignored or not noticed and the well could dry up.