At Rhode Island College, many of our print indexes have been moved or
discarded. Decisions are driven by space needs, but the main criteria
seem to be that if we would "fall back" on a run that lacks the last 5
to 15 years (because we cannot afford to buy both print and online
subscriptions), we do not need the print volumes in reference. Whether
they are discarded or moved has to do with the discipline and the  kind
of online coverage we have.

In periodicals, we ran out of space several years ago and weeded the
collection thoroughly then. Now we routinely withdraw all of our volumes
that JSTOR duplicates. So far, we do not consider any other online
source to be permanent, but we do plan to consider Portico.

RIC is a state university in a consortium that includes 9 other
universities, all within a 50-mile radius, so we do not have an
extensive custodial role. We have a "last copy" policy in the consortium
so that no print materials are discarded without being offered to the
other libraries.

Hope that helps!

Judith E. Stokes, Serials Librarian
Rhode Island College
600 Mount Pleasant Avenue
Providence, RI 02908
(401)456-8165
JStokes@RIC.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: SERIALST: Serials in Libraries Discussion Forum
[mailto:SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU] On Behalf Of Connie Foster
Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 11:39 AM
To: SERIALST@LIST.UVM.EDU
Subject: [SERIALST] Disposal of Abstracts and Indexes

Is anyone "letting go" of print indexes and abstracts for space and
online considerations? Ex., sociological abstracts or others. Some
librarians have a reluctance to discard for fear of cancelling online
products "in the future" and not having a fall-back and, thus, would
move to storage.
Any opinions and experiences you have are appreciated. This could also
extend to the JSTOR/MUSE type titles and what criteria you use to decide

what goes away permanently, what goes to storage and what stays within
reach.
Connie Foster

--
************************************************************************
******************
Connie Foster, Professor and Head, Dept. of Library Technical Services
Western Kentucky University Libraries
Editor, Serials Review
1906 College Heights Blvd. #11067
Bowling Green KY 42101-1067
connie.foster@wku.edu  tel:270-745-6151 fax:270-745-3958

	"Creating Information Possibilities"

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Serials Review electronic submission for authors:
http://ees.elsevier.com/serrev
http://sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00987913