Several weeks ago I posted the following query to both Serialst and
Ill-l:
  We, at the Lupton Library of the University of Tennessee at
  Chattanooga, are beginning a serials cancellation project.
  We would like to offer the various academic departments an
  alternative to their cancelled serials in the way of a
  supplement for document delivery. Have any of you done this
  and how did you determine the percentage of the supplement
  allowed?  Please reply directly to myself and if there is
  sufficient interest I will summarize for the lists.

I received an overwhelming amount of interest for summarizing to the
lists, but not very many useful replys. Of the 32 responses I
received from both lists, 26 were asking me to summarize my findings.

1. One academic library gave their academic departments the option
of receiving articles from cancelled journals through Uncover2.  They
set up a single fund against which those transactions were charged.
The initial fund was $3000 but not much of it was spent because the
targeted journals were generally low-use.  Another was that the ILL
department that processed the transactions did not routinely use
Uncover unless the request was "urgent" which undermined the intent of
the project. Finally, although titles involved in the project were
identified in the online catalog and their printed serial list, some
patrons were not aware of the service.

2. One academic library does an annual journal review, and cancels
titles almost every single year.  But, there is no money left over
to transfer anywhere.  They cut just enough to balance the budget and
pay for the remaining titles.

3. One academic library maintains a list of cancelled or never
purchased journals for which they offer document delivery.  A faculty
or staff member may get five items from EACH of these journals at no
charge. This person also offered these points to ponder : a. In a few
years, document delivery agents may have moved these journals into
storage (I.e., older than 5 years, etc.) and may charge more for the
delivery of articles, and b. If you charge for ILL's, your "income"
may eventually be reduced because of the reduction of your collection.

4. One academic library started the same project last year, but unlike
UTC they have closed periodical stacks which means thay keep usage
statistics by title.  The journal titles that are never used or used
less than 10 times become the target of cancellation. They consult
faculty members and the Dean of each department before making the
cancellation. The library Dean has announced through various meetings
the anticipated access of those cancelled titles by document delivery
which began in Spring 1995. Equipment was purchased for the new
service and was incorporated into the ILL department without adding
new staff. They report it is going well. They saved $46,000 during
1994/95 by cancelling low use serials, and spent $4,000 to purchase
equipment and $200+ in filling document delivery requests from
cancelled journals.

5. One academic library allocated money from their Materials budget
to Document Delivery Services by setting up a deposit account with
CARL Uncover in addition to their other deposit accounts, CARL being
their main document supplier.  Their reference department is also
urging faculty to open CARL REVEAL accounts. With REVEAL, their
faculty can browse Tables of Contents of thousands of journals and
order articles from them through DDS. DDS in now working on having
Internet access to their request forms via their Web page.

6. One government library is also going through serial reductions,
but finds that substantial portions of their collection is available
in full text through PROQUEST, NEXIS, WESTLAW, and DIALOG.

7. I also received information via snail mail from a subscription
service (SwetScan) whose representative saw my query.

Thanks to all again who responded to my query, and if anyone has any
further comments, I will be glad to receive them.

Valarie Adams
Serial Records Librarian
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
vadams@utcvm.utc.edu