By: Roger C. Schonfeld, Hal R. Varian (Foreword by)

Hardcover

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Ten years ago, most scholars and students relied on bulky card catalogs, printed bibliographic indices, and hardcopy books and journals. Today, much content is available electronically or online. This book examines the history of one of the first, and most successful, digital resources for scholarly communication, JSTOR. Beginning as a grant-funded project of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation at the University of Michigan, JSTOR has grown to become a major archive of the backfiles of academic journals, and its own nonprofit organization.

Roger Schonfeld begins this history by looking at JSTOR's original mission of saving storage space and thereby storage costs, a mission that expanded immediately to improving access to the literature. What role did the University play? Could JSTOR have been built without the active involvement of a foundation? Why was it seen as necessary to "spin off" the project? This case study proceeds as an organizational history of the birth and maturation of this nonprofit, which had to emerge from the original university partnership to carve its own identity. How did the grant project evolve into a successful marketplace enterprise? How was JSTOR able to serve its twofold mission of archiving its journals while also providing access to them? What has accounted for its growth? Finally, Schonfeld considers implications of the economic and organizational aspects of archiving as well as the system-wide savings that JSTOR ensures by broadly distributing costs.

Schonfeld's scholarship makes JSTOR: A History a valuable analysis of the mistakes and successes of a digital archive and scholarly resource, while his clear writing almost makes it a page-turner. -- Ross MacDonald Electronic Library This book is an account of a computer project but equally a thoughtful history of the managerial problems that confront a foundation intent on instigating a far-reaching innovation. -- Anthony Smith Times Higher Education Supplement

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Foreword	p. xi
A Note on Publication	p. xiii
Introduction	p. xv
Acknowledgments	p. xxi
List of Abbreviations	p. xxv
A JSTOR Time Line	p. xxvii
The Idea at Denison, the Project at Mellon December 1993-January 1994	p. 1
In Search of a Partner, but Beginning Alone February-May 1994	p. 17
Securing an Institutional Partner: The University of Michigan April-August 1994	p. 46
The Pilot Project September 1994-April 1995	p. 69
Evolving Organizational Decisions--and Independence February-December 1995	p. 95
Defining a Mission in Partnership with Publishers September 1995-August 1996	p. 119
Operational Changes at Michigan September 1995-August 1996	p. 149
Developing a Business Plan January-December 1996	p. 166
A More Thoroughly Professionalized Operation September 1996-December 1997	p. 198
Public Availability and Library Participation September 1996-December 1997	p. 230
Developing Two New Collections May 1997-December 1999	p. 264
Increasing Availability and Participation January 1998-December 1999	p. 281
Completing Arts & Sciences I and Strategizing for the Future July 1998-December 1999	p. 301
Challenges and Opportunities of Growth January 2000-December 2001	p. 318
Conclusion: A Self-Sustaining Organization	p. 355
Epilogue: Lessons Learned	p. 374
List of Journals	p. 387
Bibliography	p. 393
Index	p. 405
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

ISBN: 9780691115313
ISBN-10: 0691115311
Audience: Tertiary; University or College
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Number Of Pages: 450
Published: 27th May 2003
Dimensions (cm): 24.1 x 16.8  x 3.3
Weight (kg): 0.78