As we continue to cancel individual journals due to budget shortfalls, it is getting harder and harder to track what volumes of what journals we have perpetual access rights to, and on what platform.

For instance, if a journal changes ownership years after we've closed our holdings, we may have to go out of our way to activate our ownership rights on the new platform. Sometimes the older volumes follow the new owner, sometimes not. Sometimes third party platforms like IngentaConnect are involved.

Then there are the Big Deals, some of which include perpetual access rights to just "core" titles, some to the entire packages, and the titles going in and out of all those every year.

How is everyone managing all this? In catalogue records? In spreadsheets? In ERMs?

And if there's a dispute 10 years down the road, can you find the purchasing/licensing documentation to prove your claim to those volumes?

I'd love to hear from someone who feels fairly confident that they stay on top of these changes, to please share your secrets!