Dear faculty colleagues,
During the past year the University Libraries has been exploring the possibility of replacing Web of Science with Scopus, due in part to the ease of use and enhanced services available through Scopus, but also because of the large difference in pricing between the two products. Despite frequent requests to adjust pricing, Web of Science has consistently increased in price while the library’s materials budget has either remained static or decreased. In order to maintain other library resources, along with a reasonable book budget, we have decided this year to switch to Scopus. This new acquisition brings with it a number of tools which not only make it attractive to users, but also a much more cost effective citation database. These include better coverage of NIU’s recent publications, articles, conference proceedings, book chapters and books. In addition, Scopus includes Altmetrics as a complement to its already robust citation analysis.
The Scopus acquisition brings with it other Elsevier resources: The Digital Commons and Expert Gallery platforms will vastly improve the look and function of the Huskie Commons, NIU’s institutional repository. Funding Institutional will greatly enhance opportunities for faculty to locate grants which align with their research. In addition, Elsevier, the parent company for Scopus, has agreed to work with the University Libraries to significantly reduce our annual subscription costs going forward.
As always, the University Libraries takes our stewardship of library resources very seriously and has deliberated over this move. During the Fall 2021 semester both Scopus and Web of Science will be available to our patrons in order to ease the transition. We also encourage you to take advantage of upcoming Scopus demonstrations.
All my best wishes to you for a successful academic year,
Fred
Frederick D. Barnhart
Dean, NIU Libraries
he/him/his
Administration | University Libraries
Founders Memorial Library, DeKalb, IL 60115
815-753-9801 | fbarnhart@niu.edu
