We quit checking in the issues that came with online subscriptions a 4 years ago. Instead, we had a volunteer organize them and offered them on BackMed a couple times a year.

The main impact it's had is more space on the shelves. We still check in titles we order in print only but nothing else, which has considerably decreased collection growth.

There was an unforseen impact with two titles that had huge price increases for online - we cancelled the online and kept the print (which started getting used again) but ended up with a gap in our collection. That is two titles out of 30.

In general we found ditching print has been beneficial, especially for titles we KNOW are going to remain as online subscriptions.

Janice Pividor
Health Sciences Library

Rm. ELL-306, Victoria Hospital

London Health Sciences Centre
London, ON N6A 5W9

phone: 519-685-8500 x52042

fax: 519-685-8097
email: janice.pividor@lhsc.on.ca

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>>> On 2009/10/02 at 11:15 AM, in message <7D420073CDF64FB7A8BE2E2C44601EA5@catalog>, Mary Jane Crouse <mjcrouse@STOWELIBRARY.ORG> wrote:

Good morning, not to sound rude, but why spend good money on 41 titles that
are not being utilized? If someone requested an article from one of those
unused print titles, would you not be able to locate the article elsewhere?
The $$ you save in cancelling those subscriptions could probably help
prevent some staff cuts.

Good Luck!

MJ Crouse
Stowe Free Library
Stowe, VT

----- Original Message -----
From: "Williams, Mary Welch" <mwill108@UTMEM.EDU>
To: <SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU>
Sent: Friday, October 02, 2009 10:17 AM
Subject: [SERIALST] Checking in print plus online subscriptions?

Good morning!!

We're facing further staff reductions and I'm trying to find ways for us
to spend our precious time on things that really matter.

We've been moving subscriptions to online only where economically
feasible, but we still receive titles where online only is not an
option. We know that our print titles don't get used, we've got numbers
that tell us so. I've suggested that we not check in the print issue of
our print+ subscriptions. We have 41 such titles.

My supervisor would like to know if others have done this and if there
have been any ramifications, so I am asking you.

Thanks for your help,

Mary

Mary Williams (mwill108@uthsc.edu)
Serials Librarian
University of Tennessee Health Science Center
Library and Biocommunications Center
877 Madison Avenue, Room 250
Memphis, TN 38163

Phone: (901) 448-5154
FAX: (901) 448-5402