VISIBLE RISK OF LOSING ACCESS TO ELECTRONIC SOURCES

As you already know, there is a serious problem with the payment of subscriptions for electronic journals for the years 2009 and 2010, for academic libraries, despite the efforts of HEAL-Link and the unfulfilled promises of the Ministry of Education ESPA, nor was provision for the cost of subscriptions to electronic sources from the Public Investment Program, as it has continuously since 2003. However, most publishers, although they had unsigned contracts, provided access to their sources throughout for 2009.

According to our information by Vassilis Papazoglou, General Secretary on issues of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs, the funds required for subscriptions for years 2009 and 2010 have been budgeted in 2010 and have been included in Schedule Public Investment.

Following these developments the necessary actions from HEAL-Link were done towards the Ministry of Education.

At the same time, the publishers were informed, but because we already have been granted access for the second year without contracts, and of course without payment of debts, the messages we are receiving for the future of information from scientific sources are hardly encouraging. Publishers say they can not continue to provide access, even with the slightest possibility of setting a specific timetable for payments.

Obviously this would be a tragic outcome for a project designed with ambitious objectives, which not only reached but have already surpassed and not attributable to HEAL-Link. Such an outcome would be irreversible, with devastating effects on educational and research activities of our country.

And given the difficult economic times it is impossible for institutions to cope with the same funding to the financial commitments required by a wide range of scientific information currently provided by the Federation of Greek Academic Libraries.

Therefore the Board of Directors of S.E.A.V (HEAL-Link) considers it an obligation to inform the Greek academic community developments and warned that the disruption is likely in the near future, access to all electronic resources provided by S.E.A.V (HEAL-Link).

Already, Elsevier announced its intention at the end of February 2010 to suspend members access of HEAL-Link members to ScienceDirect, which includes all the electronic journals, and literature based on Scopus.