From Print to Gopher to Open Journal Systems: A Look Back on the Many Faces of the Electronic Green Journal

Abstract

Upon visiting this issue of the Electronic Green Journal, you most likely noticed some changes. That is because EGJ is going through a transformation into Open Journal System (OJS) developed by the Public Knowledge Project, which provides open source software for the management of peer-review journals. The implementation of OJS will significantly decrease the time it takes to administer and publish EGJ, streamline the submission and review process, and create a consistent look for the journal. This is cause for celebration for both editors and readers. Fewer hours will be spent managing and editing, while a more organized and easy to navigate EGJ is presented to the readers. In addition to current and future issues being accessible through OJS, we have uploaded back issues, providing enhanced usability, fulltext searching across all issues, and a consistent look. The new EGJ site will offer reliable usage statistics across all issues, ensuring that we can properly assess the value of moving the publication into this new format, and most importantly, measure the impact on our readers (Jankowska & Hunter, 2007). In celebration of our new face, it is time to take a look back into EGJ history and commemorate how the journal has progressed over the years with the implementation of new information and communication technologies. Below we draw on some of the images and submissions saved on numerous 4 disks, zip disks, CD-ROMS and other media to give a picture-based historical account of EGJ from its creation. The history of the journal started in 1991 when a group of environmental enthusiasts from the Green Library in Berkeley and the University of Idaho Library in Moscow, Idaho decided to disseminate and share environmental information in a manner that would promote sustainable scholarly communication and environmental literacy. They agreed that the best tool for this sharing of knowledge would a professional journal that would provide a forum for communication of current research, bibliographies, book reviews, opinions, and information sources on environmental information. This is how The Green Library Journal: Environmental Topics in the Information World (GLJ) started with a mission to assist in information retrieval and access to international environmental information sources. It was vital to the founders that opinions and voices from all over the world be heard, so an editorial board from across the globe was pulled together to create an international information exchange forum for librarians, information consultants, civic groups, organizations, educators, and individuals. The subscription payments from national users were used to distribute free copies of the journal to developing and environmentally atrisk countries such as Cuba, Nepal, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, former Czechoslovakia, and Bolivia. With significant input from the members of the American Library Association's Task Force on the Environment the first issue of GLJ was published in January 1992. This was the first cover of the journal. The second issue with articles focused on international environmental topics was published in the spring of 1992. In 1992 the third issue was published with four leading articles, four columns, and fourteen book reviews. In winter of 1993 the last printed issue was published. It included five articles, four columns, and twelve book reviews. Until 1993, Green Library, Inc. sponsored the production of the journal from funds appropriated through grants and donations. After 1993 funds were no longer available for the printing of the Green Library Journal. Yet the journal was beginning to gain readers and submissions, and in light of trying to create sustainable scholarly communication, librarians at the University of Idaho Library decided to launch a peer-reviewed, free-of-charge, full-text electronic journal. Maria Anna Jankowska recruited Terry Abraham, Mike Pollastro, and Francis S. …