Introduction

While the online publishing products developed at Columbia and elsewhere have yielded some interesting information concerning the process of creating these resources, few have provided extensive analysis of data involving questions of cost and use of these projects on a comparative basis.

The Andrew W. Mellon foundation has awarded EPIC a grant to conduct an evaluation of online resources. Our goal is to answer the important questions that everyone involved is asking, namely, how are these digital projects affecting the overall scholarly communications process as a whole in terms of cost throughout the life cycle of the publication process; how is the use of these resources affecting qualitatively and quantitatively the research and teaching patterns of scholars and students; and what are the financial models that will allow for sustainability of these products over the long term?

In approaching these questions, we are interested in speaking with academic presses, university administrations, information technology personnel, librarians, faculty, and students. This is being done through a variety of methods including one-on-one interviews, focus groups, usage log analysis, and surveys. Furthermore, this evaluation project is approaching these questions from both a general perspective of how online resources are affecting scholarly communication, and also from the more specific focus of how EPIC projects are being utilized by librarians, faculty, and students.