Since I have only seen parts of my answer to this question, I will add one
more thing that we consider - stability of the online title.  In other
words, if you are going with access in an aggregrate situation, can you
find it in a database that is relatively stable (i.e. titles don't come and
go on a regular basis - for example JSTOR or Muse are considered stable
databases) or is it somewhere that you may look at next month and discover
that it is no longer supplied and you no longer have access to that title,
so now you are going to have to scramble to get access somewhere, somehow
else.  This also ties in with the archiving issue.    I wish you luck,
because going online only is still, by no means, a stable environment.  As
much as the patron likes the ease of access, I think that you will find
that they *dislike*, just as much, having that access pulled out from under
them.  Issues of price, etc. are also important and must also be taken into
account.  This has been mentioned before, but one other thing, especially
since you are a medical school library, you might need to look at - how
fast are the online prices rising in comparison to the print for each
title, and will you be able to afford it in another few years down the line?

Best of luck with some difficult decisions,

Susan Andrews

At 02:34 PM 12/5/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>We are a medical school library in the process of developing criteria that
>will determine which of our journal print subscriptions should defer to
>"online only" - a little frightening project to me. If you have developed any
>standards for making this type of decision I would appreciate any guidance you
>can give me from your experience.
>
>Thanks,
>Tylka
>
>Tylka Vetula
>Serials Librarian
>Himmelfarb Health Sciences Library
>2300 Eye Street, NW
>Washington, DC  20037
>
>(202)994-9756

Susan Andrews
Head, Serials Librarian
Texas A&M University-Commerce
P.O. Box 3011
Commerce, TX 75429-3011
Susan_Andrews@tamu-commerce.edu
(903)886-5733
"Your Success Is Our Business"