Criteria for cancelling individual subscriptions Kate Hood 09 Feb 2007 14:21 UTC
Hello, Sue, Jennifer and others - Just wanted to say that Jennifer's answers to Sue's queries below are identical to what I would have said, and we are a very similar size. Hope that is helpful. Thanks, Kate Hood Library Associate for Serials and Binding Guilford College, Serials Library 5800 W. Friendly Ave. Greensboro, NC 27410 khood@guilford.edu 336-316-2362; 336-316-2449 fax Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2007 11:59:35 -0500 From: "van Sickle, Jennifer" <Jennifer.vanSickle@TRINCOLL.EDU> Subject: Re: Criteria for cancelling individual subscriptions Hello Sue and other list members, My replies follow below. We are a small liberal arts college with about 2100 FTE. Hope this helps. Jennifer van Sickle Trinity College Hartford, CT -----Original Message----- From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of SUSAN BEIDLER Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 2:39 PM To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU Subject: [SERIALST] Criteria for cancelling individual subscriptions I work at a small 4-year college (1500 FTE students) with no graduate programs. We are JSTOR subscribers. Partly because of space limitations and partly for budget reasons, we have been actively eliminating duplication in our journal collection and have already withdrawn the print volumes we had that were duplicated by JSTOR. We also cancelled all of the microform subscriptions that we had for JSTOR titles. We are looking at other steps we may want to take in the future to control the rate of rise in our serials budget. I would welcome hearing from similar types of institutions on the following questions: 1. Have you cancelled individual current subscriptions (print, e-only, or combined), relying on their inclusion in aggregator packages for access to the content? Generally not, unless it is a title that is of limited use or value to the collection. 2. If so, what criteria did you use to make your decision? We try to keep titles that are interdisciplinary and support student research/assignments. Expensive titles that are only used by faculty are more likely to be cancelled. We always consult with the academic departments on cancellation projects. 3. Have you re-evaluated your microform subscriptions in light of the title's availability in an aggregator package? We have pared down MF due to cost and low usage. We keep MF for core titles/newspapers. 4. How important is archival access to online content when you evaluate subscription options? Essential! Thanks for sharing your experiences. Sue Sue Beidler Snowden Library Lycoming College 700 College Place Williamsport PA 17701 phone: 570-321-4084 fax: 570 321-4090 email: beidler@lycoming.edu ------------------------------