The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), US, has announced that it is conducting a survey amongst its publisher members. The purpose of the survey is to establish the nature and extent of long-term preservation strategies - in place or planned - and to enhance awareness of digital preservation issues amongst members and in the wider scholarly community. Long-term preservation of digital content is seen to be one of the most serious issues facing scholarly publishers and their library customers.
In 2006, an industry study had concluded that 'much scholarly e-literature is not covered by archiving arrangements and that while e-journal archiving programmes are becoming available, no comprehensive solution has emerged and large parts of e-literature go unprotected.' This conclusion prompted a question for the industry - who is responsible for ensuring electronic scholarly materials remain accessible to present and future scholars, researchers and students?
A recent survey of North American libraries showed 66 percent of respondents were not yet participating in an e-journal preservation initiative. Elsewhere in the industry, there is considerable debate as to whether it is appropriate, desirable or even possible for publishers to take on this responsibility. But it is increasingly the case that libraries are expecting their publishing partners to have viable preservation strategies in place.
The latest ALPSP survey has been made possible through a grant from Portico. It will remain on the current site until the end of July 2008 and a summary of the results will be made available to all ALPSP members through the website. The full results will be published on the ALPSP website in due course.
