JSTOR Press Release
The USM Libraries are pleased to announce the significant acquisition of JSTOR Arts and Science Collection I, II and VII. These JSTOR collections provide access to USM faculty and students to complete electronic back files of 426 journals in 21 disciplines. These collections join two smaller, previously acquired JSTOR collections: Mathematical and Statistics Collection and Music Collection. Access to USM JSTOR holdings are from the USM Libraries website under “Quicklinks- JSTOR”: http://libraries.maine.edu/auth/auth.asp?db=JSTOR
JSTOR is the trusted digital archive for scholarship, and has been the most requested acquisition by USM faculty over the past several years. JSTOR’s mission is to digitize the complete backfiles of high quality, interdisciplinary journals, as well as to create an archive of scholarship. Journals in JSTOR are digital backfiles and have a rolling embargo of two to five years which is the time lag between the most current issue and the content available in JSTOR. In many cases the library also has access to the most current issues.
The Libraries were able to add JSTOR this fiscal year thanks to President Botman’s dedication to investing in library collections and through the use of gift funds. Over time, the goal is to not only acquire all of the other JSTOR collections, but to also transition nearly all current journal subscriptions to electronic format. This is one cornerstone of our commitment to student success, as the Libraries move from print journals to electronic journals, giving students and faculty increased access from home, work, and on campus.
As another example of this commitment, the Libraries will add in January, online access to over 1,200 Wiley/Blackwell journals, increasing USM’s Wiley/Blackwell titles by 1,000 at only a marginal cost. This is made possible through library consortium participation and publisher’s offering of new journal packages. As the largest publisher on behalf of scholarly and professional societies, these Wiley/Blackwell titles will include current issues and back files to 1997 in the social sciences, humanities, sciences, medicine, and technology.
David Nutty
University Librarian
