09/21/2023
By Sara Marks

You told us you want more JSTOR and we’ve made that happen!

During the pandemic, JSTOR generously opened their entire collection to libraries for no additional fee. Moving forward, JSTOR has provided libraries with an opportunity to retain access to their full collection with a new pricing model.

“JSTOR provides high-quality content across a wide range of disciplines. We’re excited the vendor was able to offer an affordable and sustainable pricing model to libraries. Being able to continue these subscriptions is pivotal to ensuring that all disciplines are seeing themselves in the University Library collections. This, in turn, is part of our strategic goal to provide equitable access to all Library resources,” says Allison Estell, Dean of the University Library.

JSTOR is one of UMass Lowell’s most popular databases and contains over 12 million journal articles, books and more. Internationally, JSTOR is viewed as a long-term investment for university libraries. Not only do they provide us with access to current and historical issues of journals in full text, but they have a growing collection of historical documents, images and books. While best known for their humanities, social sciences and arts titles, they collect content across 70 academic disciplines and 2,800 top scholarly journals. They are well known for preserving scholarly journals and providing historical access in full PDF scans of articles. Their vast collection of books has been used by many on campus as a source for course readings and textbooks to supplement Open Educational Resources (OER) and keep student textbooks costs low.

Another way we’re working with JSTOR to support learning and research is with our recent agreement for additional ebook collections. This innovative model allows us to provide access to the ebooks throughout the year and gather usage data in order to inform decisions on which titles to purchase permanently.

Their Artstor platform, which will be merged with the main collection in 2024, includes an extensive image and art collection that you and your students can use for assignments and course materials.

JSTOR’s mission is to expand and enhance access to knowledge and education for people all over the world.

If you’d like to learn more about how to use the resources in our collection, the University Library Research & Learning Team are happy to help. Contact them through Ask A Librarian at ask@uml.libanswers.com.