Decisions about adding and subtracting subscriptions are made by the Serials Collection Working Group (SCWG), a committee of six librarians. Each broad subject area (arts / humanities, social sciences / business / education/ health, science /engineering) is represented. Two Collection Development librarians and the Serials Division provide most of the logistical support.

-cancellations
-requests for new subscriptions
-how to track journal decisions

CANCELLATIONS

January - February

Collection Development and the Financial Manager study the costs of the renewals which have just been paid and the University’s apparent budget outlook. They set a dollar goal for the review which will pay for the anticipated price increases and will allow for the purchase of some new titles and the online upgrades patrons demand. If it seems likely that the university will have a budget cut that is also factored in.

Rather than examine the entire collection of about 20,000 subscriptions every year, the SCWG and Serials Order Section identify classes of materials to be examined that year, for example, journals with a high cost per download and microforms. All major publishers receive at least a quick review to make sure their titles are a good value for money. Data is gathered on thousands of titles and provisional lists made. Throughout the process SCWG tries to remember extenuating circumstances. The size of some departments may mean the potential audience is small or we may have one of the few subscriptions in North America. The review list is purposely greater than the minimum needed to balance the budget so that we can modify it as we receive more information and opinions from patrons and colleagues.

March

With the end of the Legislative session the funding outlook becomes a bit clearer. The Committee adjusts the proposed lists and meets with subject librarians to explain the likely budget and the current review plans.

The review list and a letter of explanation are posted on the library’s website. Comments are invited. We inform the campus community:

• Collection Development writes a prototype email announcement. Subject librarians inform academic departments. Some departments give librarians direct access to e-mail lists of all faculty and graduate students. In other cases, communication goes through the faculty liaison the department has selected.
• FYI bulletin – sent to all University employees.
• Inline – the paper library newsletter sent to all faculty.
• News announcement on the library’s homepage.

April – June

The comment period generally runs from late March to mid-June. (The change to semesters means that there is a short time between when we have an idea of the budget and the end of the academic year. We make sure the list is posted at least one month before the end of the academic year and allow comments into summer semester.)

June - July

SCWG evaluates the comments from patrons and library employees. In 4 of the past 5 years we were able to continue almost every title faculty asked us to renew. A provisional list of titles not to be renewed is posted for all subject librarians to review by mid-July.

August

The final list is made and submitted to the Serials Order Division which needs it by Labor Day to begin the renewal process for the next year.

REQUESTS FOR NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS

SCWG also reviews requests for new subscriptions. Faculty requests costing less than $100 are usually ordered immediately. More expensive requests or requests from non-faculty are batched and prioritized together. For the past several years our philosophy has been to start journals requested by faculty if at all possible and then evaluate their use and value after a three year probation. The committee looks annually at the journals requested through Interlibrary Loan to see whether a subscription is warranted. A webpage listing new journals is posted every spring and featured on the homepage.

Publishers now commonly offer packages of all their online journals. Marriott Library has been cautious about these. They may offer attractive initial prices and inflation caps, but they make it nearly impossible to cancel individual titles and we want to avoid having a large percentage of our materials budget inflexibly committed. SCWG evaluates packages and starts those which seem prudent. The Utah Academic Library Consortium also chooses and buys journal packages and databases for all Utah college libraries.

Surveys of UU faculty and graduate students consistently show that better online access to journals is their highest library priority. Many large publishers charge a premium for full electronic access and SCWG decides which upgrades seem the best investments.

HOW TO TRACK SERIALS DECISIONS

The lists of materials reviewed, cancelled, and added since 2000 are posted on the Collection Development public webpage. All subject librarians can see the journal desiderata list and serials review preliminary data, with detailed price and use histories, on the staff intranet.

bc 3-07