A brief history of e-prints and the opportunities they open for science librarians

Spiraling journal costs have plagued libraries for years and the Association of Research Libraries' 1994 investigation into pricing issues clearly illustrated the science librarian's predicament. This paper reviews how some scientists, as both producers and consumers of the information distributed through these journals, use electronic self-archives called e-prints to break the stranglehold journal publishers have over science libraries, and the opportunities open to librarians to facilitate and support the reformation.