Astronomy Libraries: from Paper to Electronic

During the past decade, astronomy libraries have changed remarkably. In the old millenium, astronomers visited the library regularly. They expected to find a certain range of astronomy as well as physics, mathematics, and computer science journals on display; they would browse the contents tables, read bits and pieces from the contents and photocopy articles of particular interest. The latest preprints, recently received from other institutes, were displayed for perusal. References to already published articles could be retrieved by consulting the big blue volumes of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Abstracts or, for even older publications, the Astronomischer Jahresbericht. Articles from journals to which the library did not subscribe could be ordered from the librarians who would obtain them via time-consuming, but inexpensive interlibrary loan. Conference proceedings and other books owned by the library could be located through the card catalog where authors' names, book titles, and certain subject terms were indexed. Alternatively, astronomers went directly to the shelf containing books on their research interest to browse currently available titles. New acquisitions were on display, and astronomers usually enjoyed the opportunity to have a look at the contents table or glance at certain chapters even though the book in general might not have pertained to the scientist's core interests. Sometimes, they even took the time to talk to their librarian!

These tranquil days are gone. The search for literature must be organized as efficiently as possible, and early and wide-spread dissemination of research results is critical to scientists. The importance of (electronic) preprints has increased immensely. Monitoring new submissions on astro-ph, the astrophysics branch of the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) e-Print server, has become a daily routine for many astronomers, and every now and then there are voices saying that electronic preprint servers are about to replace traditional peer-reviewed journals. Abstract services, which traditionally indexed references to articles published some time ago, nowadays include references, abstracts, and links to full texts of articles before their actual publication on paper. The NASA ADS abstract service also links to the LANL e-Print server, trying to bridge the gap between published and soon-to-be-published papers. Many astronomy journals including all core titles are available in electronic format and can be reached conveniently from the scientists' desktops. Contents tables of journals from all subject areas can be viewed on the web, and scientists can subscribe to free-of-charge e-mail alerting services to stay informed of publications in their field of research. Full-text articles often are just a mouseclick (and a credit card number) away. Books which are available in-house can be located through the library's online catalog, and lists of recent purchases, distributed by e-mail, announce new acquisitions. Web-based forms invite information requests, purchase recommendations, and feedback from astronomers so that users and librarians often communicate electronically rather than in person.