RE: concepts of perpetuity

["Eileen Fenton" <Eileen.Fenton@portico.org>]

Although removed from Ann's original question, this thread has 
brought into sharp relief the challenges associated with the 
assurance of continuing or "perpetual" access to e-journals. 
Provision of subscribed-to content on media is neither practical 
for publishers and libraries, as Tracey Thompson so clearly 
notes, nor does it assure the viable long-term preservation that 
enables access.

At Portico, a not-for-profit archive of scholarly literature 
published in electronic form, we are addressing the need for 
active, long-term preservation and ongoing access. Portico is 
preserving nearly 8,000 journals and more than 4,400 e-books on 
behalf of its library and publisher participants.  For 
approximately 85% of the e-journals and all of the e-books, 
publishers have designated Portico as one means to meet 
libraries' ongoing access needs.  So if a library that 
participates in Portico has cancelled a license, they may turn to 
the Portico archive for ongoing access without resort to locally 
loaded, managed, and maintained tapes, CDs or servers.

Nearly 470 libraries from around the world, including many 
smaller or mid-size libraries that have not traditionally 
considered preservation a part of their mandate, now rely upon 
and support the Portico archive. This broad base of support 
expresses the new reality that long-term digital preservation is 
as essential to continuing access to e-journals as physical 
shelves have been for print materials.

Eileen Fenton
Executive Director, Portico
www.portico.org
609.986.2215