The Economic Impact of Electronic Journals on University Libraries: The Case of Iranian Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS)

Abstract

The objective of this study is to answer the following conjecture: If Iranian Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS) Library subscribed to the electronic versions of journals instead of their printed copies, its budget and space problems would be eased. To prove this hypothesis we compared various expenditures (subscriptions, mailing, control, binding and archiving) of both printed and electronic versions of journals that IASBS Library subscribed to in 2002. We found that if IASBS Library had subscribed to the electronic versions of journals instead of their printed equivalents, the Library would have decreased the total expenditures in its overall material acquisition budget by 13%.