Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 16:08:32 -0400
From: Diane Arnold <arnoldd@chc.edu>
Subject: RE: Print vs. online serials -- Jessica Orzechowski

Jessica,

I am a serials librarian who actually advocates for on-line rather than paper
access --- much of the time. We have a large (relatively speaking - we're
also a small college) commuting student population who rely on off-campus
access and so we strive to provide it.

When I am deciding what to cancel and what to carry, I look carefully at what
is available in full text, whether there is any embargo on the full text
(often times you can not get full text until the print has been out for a few
months or longer), and whether the full text is in the PDF format, which
would in essence be a photocopy of the journal article and include the charts
& images & page numbers. This is prefered over the HTML full text by
professors who want to be assured that the student is reading the entire
artilce & all it comes with.

When I cancel a journal or a number of journals I still try to continue to
provide excellent print sources. Obviously I look for journals that aren't
available in PDF to add. I also look at ILL requests and try to pick up a few
journals that get multiple requests. I look at new curriculum and fill the
needs they have and that expanding, existing curriculum will need.

Even though most news magazines are available in full text I still get them
in paper, because many students come in to sit and read through them & the
newspapers. We still have students that prefer to browse journals in their
field for recent trends, and so we have good reason to continue those
subscriptions. Many, many, many (APA comes to mind) psychology journals are
not availble in the databases we subscribe to, so we still maintain those
print subscriptions.

Basically, if I see that a journal is never used, it is time to evaluate it
and possibly use the funds for something they will use. Maybe that is another
full-text database.

Diane Arnold
Logue Library
Chestnut Hill College
Philadelphia