Going Digital: the Canadian Law Library Review Experience

The Canadian Law Library Review (CCLR) is the journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries.

Slaw.ca published an interview today with Susan Barker, the CLLR's current acting editor, about the decision to become a digital-only publication in 2015:

"One thing that made it easier was that the changes were made incrementally and so we were able to make sure one thing worked before moving on to the next. Step 1 was the redesign in 2013. Then we moved to providing a PDF version while still producing in print. Then the print was discontinued and a PDF link was provided to members on our website and we set up access via ISSUU. The next step was to discontinue the print entirely. Once digital – we were able to go open access, no longer limit our readership to members and paid subscribers (although we only had a few of those) and to adopt a Creative Commons license. Finally, our partnership with CanLII made true open access possible."

The interview ends with some considerations that are important when going digital:

"What knowledge gaps need to be filled? 

• Understanding digital publication best practices. Changes in processes, management, and training. 
• An opportunity for reinvention and innovation. 

How will the change impact readership?

• Digital publication and open licensing allows for the content to be shared more widely than ever before. 

What are the cost implications?

• Digital formats allow for more possibilities and fewer costs in design features (colours, number of pages, multimedia), linking to other resources, and gathering usage metrics, for example."