Just wanted to throw in that you should check for notes in the records about who originally requested/selected the journal, and was it for a specific department or professor. This may determine whether you might have some blowback if you cancel a journal that turns out to be the favorite of an active professor. We use Innovative Millennium as our ILS; there are often notes in the order and/or checkin records regarding this information.
Our school is small enough that it’s pretty easy to talk to other librarians and find out what may cause contention. Also figure out which professor is long gone, and nobody else does research or teaching in XYZ area, so XYZ journal is almost never used and is pretty safe to cancel. If you’re a larger school it may be more of formal project.
You can also talk to any old-timers about historical blowups. Then do some investigation to see if the blower-uppers are still around. Has their attitude changed? For example, we had a professor who demanded we keep a certain journal in all 3 formats (online, print, and microform). That was maybe 10 years ago. The person is now retired and seems to appreciate the online access a lot more, and is less wedded to print. If we could gin up the funds to buy the archives, we might be able to cancel the print (and withdraw all the bound volumes) without too much bad reaction.
Of course, you are probably going to have to cancel some “potential blowup” titles, but you can identify proactively what might cause problems and figure out politic approaches to communication. (and let the faculty know that budget problems are forcing your hand.)
Diane Westerfield, Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian
Tutt Library, Colorado College
diane.westerfield@coloradocollege.edu
(719) 389-6082 (fax)
From: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum [mailto:SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG] On Behalf Of Caroline Dean
Sent: Friday, January 09, 2015 6:40 AM
To: SERIALST@LISTSERV.NASIG.ORG
Subject: [SERIALST] subscription review/cancellation exercise - the 3 scenarios
***Cross-posted to multiple lists; please excuse duplication.***
Dear colleagues
The subscriptions (e-journals, p-journals, databases) budget at the University of Cape Town Libraries is facing a budget cut. Our finance department has asked us to draw up scenarios on what the impact to the university will be if the subscriptions budget is cut by 5, 10 and 15%?
Have you undertaken such an exercise recently? Or even a straight-forward review/cancellation exercise? What are some of the criteria you used to evaluate titles for retention or cancellation?
Thank you
Regards
Caroline
Caroline Dean
Acquisitions Manager
University of Cape Town Libraries,
Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa.
Tel: +27 21 6503701
Fax: +27 21 6502044
Email: caroline.dean@uct.ac.za
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
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