Document Delivery and Cancelled Serials Valarie ADAMS 18 Sep 1995 14:59 UTC
Several weeks ago I posted the following query to both Serialst and Ill-l: We, at the Lupton Library of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, are beginning a serials cancellation project. We would like to offer the various academic departments an alternative to their cancelled serials in the way of a supplement for document delivery. Have any of you done this and how did you determine the percentage of the supplement allowed? Please reply directly to myself and if there is sufficient interest I will summarize for the lists. I received an overwhelming amount of interest for summarizing to the lists, but not very many useful replys. Of the 32 responses I received from both lists, 26 were asking me to summarize my findings. 1. One academic library gave their academic departments the option of receiving articles from cancelled journals through Uncover2. They set up a single fund against which those transactions were charged. The initial fund was $3000 but not much of it was spent because the targeted journals were generally low-use. Another was that the ILL department that processed the transactions did not routinely use Uncover unless the request was "urgent" which undermined the intent of the project. Finally, although titles involved in the project were identified in the online catalog and their printed serial list, some patrons were not aware of the service. 2. One academic library does an annual journal review, and cancels titles almost every single year. But, there is no money left over to transfer anywhere. They cut just enough to balance the budget and pay for the remaining titles. 3. One academic library maintains a list of cancelled or never purchased journals for which they offer document delivery. A faculty or staff member may get five items from EACH of these journals at no charge. This person also offered these points to ponder : a. In a few years, document delivery agents may have moved these journals into storage (I.e., older than 5 years, etc.) and may charge more for the delivery of articles, and b. If you charge for ILL's, your "income" may eventually be reduced because of the reduction of your collection. 4. One academic library started the same project last year, but unlike UTC they have closed periodical stacks which means thay keep usage statistics by title. The journal titles that are never used or used less than 10 times become the target of cancellation. They consult faculty members and the Dean of each department before making the cancellation. The library Dean has announced through various meetings the anticipated access of those cancelled titles by document delivery which began in Spring 1995. Equipment was purchased for the new service and was incorporated into the ILL department without adding new staff. They report it is going well. They saved $46,000 during 1994/95 by cancelling low use serials, and spent $4,000 to purchase equipment and $200+ in filling document delivery requests from cancelled journals. 5. One academic library allocated money from their Materials budget to Document Delivery Services by setting up a deposit account with CARL Uncover in addition to their other deposit accounts, CARL being their main document supplier. Their reference department is also urging faculty to open CARL REVEAL accounts. With REVEAL, their faculty can browse Tables of Contents of thousands of journals and order articles from them through DDS. DDS in now working on having Internet access to their request forms via their Web page. 6. One government library is also going through serial reductions, but finds that substantial portions of their collection is available in full text through PROQUEST, NEXIS, WESTLAW, and DIALOG. 7. I also received information via snail mail from a subscription service (SwetScan) whose representative saw my query. Thanks to all again who responded to my query, and if anyone has any further comments, I will be glad to receive them. Valarie Adams Serial Records Librarian The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga vadams@utcvm.utc.edu