The impact of e-journal access on DocDel Service activities.

The rise of the first e-journal is a much debated question, however it is placed around 1990. They originally started as products in textual format sent by e-mail by specialised newsgroups in the technical-scientific field and in the biomedical area. In 1992, the first e-journal appeared on the Web and in 1997 publishers began to issue them at first in the Postscript or PCI formats and then in the more practical PDF format [1]. Over last few years electronic journals have become an important tool for scientists and medical practitioners. About 95 % of biomedical journals is now available both electronically and/or in print [2]. Internet growth and spreading and the availability of full text e-journals have contributed to increase patron expectations of instant retrieval of documents. In the summer 2003, an agreement with CILEA has provided Biblioteca Centrale dell’Area Biomedica with access to a wide range of journals in electronic format through Elsevier ScienceDirect. The Library need to consider several issues when making this service available: providing access (user registration and authentication), user training and education, promotion of the service, usage statistic evaluation. Several departments of the University of Cagliari were targeted for an early introduction to the service. The “potential users ” of Elsevier ScienceDirect consisted of people relatively familiar with using online version of scientific journals and retrieving articles. They were researchers belonging to the fields of biological sciences, medicine and other research fields related to life sciences. Library management decided to conduct a six months survey (July/December 2003) to assess the extent of e-journals use and in particular to determine their effects on DocDel Service activities. Aim of the study was also to consider the cost–benefit aspects of the direct access to biomedical literature by library patrons. Our expectation was that we would have a decrease in user requests for journals articles via our DocDel Service