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Browsing University Library by Author "Ladd, Ken"
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Item Collaborative strategies for the preservation of print equivalent serials(2009) Ladd, KenPresented at Saskatchewan Library Association conference, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan April 30 - May 2 (2009)Item An examination of the failure rate and content equivalency of electronic surrogates and the implications for print equivalent preservation(University of Alberta Learning Service, 2010) Ladd, KenObjective - This study sought to determine whether evidence indicates a need to preserve print equivalent journal collections. In addition, this research aimed to provide data on the failure rate of print equivalent materials for possible digitization to replace existing poor quality or defective electronic surrogates. Methods - The project compared the content of randomly selected journal titles, volumes, and issues from seven electronic journal archives and their print equivalents held at the University of Saskatchewan Library. The archives were obtained from five separate vendors representing humanities, social sciences, science, technology, and medicine. Data were collected on the frequency and types of failure of electronic surrogates, supplemental content missing from electronic surrogates, and frequency and types of failure of print equivalent materials. Results -Across all electronic journal archives the failure rate of electronic surrogates was 7.5% for all PDF documents and 11.5% for scholarly PDF documents. For individual electronic journal archives the failure rate ranged from 0.7% to 19.5% for all PDF documents and from 0.3% to 26.5% for scholarly PDF documents. Data is presented on the failure rate of individual electronic journal archives, types of failure, and missing supplemental content. An examination of print equivalent titles found 1.7% of print scholarly articles could not be used or were not optimal for digitization. Conclusions - The study demonstrates the need for preserving print equivalent journal titles for at least the short (less than 5 years) to medium term (up to 10 years), while poorly digitized materials are identified, replaced, and digitally preserved. While electronic surrogates of image-rich scholarly papers are more likely to have quality issues, the study found some text-only PDF scholarly documents were illegible, indicating the need for caution against liberally applying this as a criterion for disposal of print equivalent titles. There is significant supplemental content absent from electronic surrogates which indicates a need for further discussion of the necessity for such information or for incorporating it into the digitization process to ensure a complete record of the print equivalent journals for future use. The failure rate of print equivalent titles for possible digitization provides additional data for discussions related to the determination of optimal overlap. It also suggests that the number of copies required for a full set of preserved journals over a specified time horizon may be greater than anticipated, unless page level validation is performed.Item A Re-examination of Online Journal Quality and Investigation of the Possible Impact of Poor Electronic Surrogate Quality on Researchers(2018-08-24) Ladd, KenObjective – This study re-examines the findings of a paper (Ladd, 2010) that investigated whether evidence indicated print equivalent journal collections needed to be preserved, based on the quality of their electronic surrogates. The current study investigates whether: 1) electronic surrogate articles that failed (i.e., the print equivalent article needed to be consulted to view all the content/information) in the first study had improved in quality; and 2) there was evidence that poor-quality electronic surrogates could impact on research if the print equivalent articles did not exist. Methods – Each of the 198 PDF documents identified in the 2010 study as failing were re-examined to assess whether any change in quality had occurred. To assess the possible impact for researchers if they needed to rely solely on poor-quality electronic journal surrogates, citation data were collected for each of the failed scholarly PDFs using Web of Science and Scopus, and usage count data were collected from Web of Science. Results – Across the electronic journal backfiles/archives examined, there were 13.6% fewer failures of electronic surrogates for all PDF documents than in the original study, while for scholarly PDF documents (e.g., research papers) there were 13.8% fewer failures. One electronic journal archive accounted for 91.7% of the improvement for scholarly PDF documents. A second archive accounted for all the observed improvement for non-scholarly PDF documents. The study found that for the failed scholarly PDF documents from the original study, 58.7% had been cited or had Web of Science usage counts from 2010 onward. Conclusion – The study demonstrates a continued need for retaining print equivalent journal titles for the foreseeable future, while poor-quality electronic surrogates are being replaced and digitally preserved. There are still poor-quality images, poor-quality scans of text-only articles, missing pages, and even content of PDF documents that could not be explained (e.g., incorrect text for images when compared to the print). While it is known that not all researchers will consult each of the papers that they cite, although it is best practice to do so, the extent of citations of the failed scholarly PDF documents indicate that having to rely solely on electronic surrogates could pose a problem for researchers.