As many of you know, in December we called attention to the fact that unauthorized persons are gaining access to licensed electronic resources on college and university campuses via improperly configured proxy servers.

In this issue of JSTORNEWS we provide additional background information on open proxies as well as a description of how we discovered the problem. While I expect that the discussion and implementation of potential solutions will gravitate to other venues over time, for now we have created web pages for participating institutions that offer background, context, and updates on progress in the ongoing discussions of this important issue (http://www.jstor.org/about/openproxies.html).

We are also pleased to report on two important enhancements to the website that benefit JSTOR users. First, we continue to work hard to make JSTOR as accessible as possible to the visually impaired community. We have now completed the first phase of that important and continuing effort. Second, we recently added the capability for users to export citation information in a variety of formats. This feature makes the process of incorporating citation information in scholarly research significantly more convenient.

The year 2002 was another exciting one for JSTOR. There are now 322 titles included in the archive, provided by 182 different publishers. Over 1,500 participating institutions from 71 countries underwrite the ongoing costs of providing access to this important journal literature and insuring its long-term maintenance. We feel fortunate to receive such widespread support, but we also recognize that along with it comes great responsibility. We continue to strive always to exceed your expectations. Please do not hesitate to share with us your advice and feedback.

Happy New Year!
Kevin M. Guthrie

Last updated on September 8, 2006