Long-Term Print Journal

QA815 Long-Term Print Journal

Description

The Library values and will continue to develop, preserve and promote our unique heritage print collection as an asset of the University.  As e-journal publishing and preservation has matured in the last decade and is now a secure and reliable mode of delivery for journals, our subscriptions have increasingly been converted to online-only.

The print journal remains however a valuable resource, both as a physical artefact, often beautifully bound and illustrated, and as a piece of history, telling the story of how both research and scholarly communication has developed over the history of the University.

This policy specifies those journals that the Library undertakes to preserve and retain as a Long-Term Print Journal Archive, regardless of future online availability.

Steinberger Journals

Titles, still held by the library, which appear in the Journals Listing in the Steinberger catalogue (1913).  These represent the foundations of the Old Library which was housed in the Quadrangle. They reflect the priorities and subject areas considered valuable in teaching and research in the second half of the 19th century, during the University’s founding years. Many, in addition, are nicely bound and some titles are extremely fine examples of both binding and illustration with hand coloured plates.

Irish Studies

Full runs of titles published in Ireland and elsewhere in the following subject areas as they relate to Irish Studies:

These represent a body of scholarship which is crucial to one of the University’s strategic research strands. They also tie into the University’s West of Ireland location, which is going to become more important in the future and which will be a distinguishing feature from other institutions.

Fold Outs

Titles in disciplines where the adequate replication of unusual formats such as fold- outs, maps etc. is crucial e.g, Archaeology, Classics. Yet the electronic versions don’t, in many instances, replicate the ease of access provided by the print copy when it comes to fold-out diagrams, charts, maps and other illustrative material. This may be something that will improve as time goes on. However, at the moment it is not appropriate to limit ourselves to electronic access only in these areas.

Titles in Fine Bindings/with Hand-Coloured Plates/Colour Photographic Reproductions 

Many, though not all of these, would fall within the category in point 1 relating to the Steinberger journals. However, there are some modern published titles which should also be retained not only for their content but due to their intrinsic value as artefacts for future generations of readers.

Donations

Currently, when a collection is being evaluated for donations, it is usual to exclude journals as in many instances the journals offered are titles already held by the Library. However, where there is a substantial run of a title not previously held by the Library in any format it may be accepted as part of a donation if it augments our holdings and is representative of the scholarship of the original owner. In such instances print holdings will be retained by the Library.

CONUL Distributed Print Archive 

NUI, Galway has committed to permanently retaining the CONUL Copy of Last Resort of a number of Abstracting and Indexing journals. These must be retained in perpetuity. This model may extend to non-A/I journals in the future. The titles currently held under this scheme are: Biological Abstracts RRM, Current Mathematical Publications, Geo Abstracts A, B, C and D.

Download PDF copy of the policy: QA815 Long-Term Print Journal‌‌