---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 1995 09:18:01 -0500
From: Keith R. Stetson <KSTETSON@FAIR1.FAIRFIELD.EDU>
Subject: Re: serials/monographs budget ratio (Kendra Sikop)

1.  For fiscal year 1995-96, 50.2% of our materials budget is
allocated to serials.  Monographs are 38%, and the remainder is
divided among binding, media, microforms, online search, and ILL.
We have 3,776 F.T.E. students and 1,838 current subscriptions.

2.  We try to do a journals review of each department each three
years.  We are in the position that, to add a new subscription,
a department must cancel current subscription(s) of roughly equal
cost.  The journals review process allows departments to fine tune
their journals list to reflect retirements, new faculty, and
changing curricular directions.  If just one new journal is wanted,
an informal review of the current departmental list can usually
identify a candidate(s) for cancellation.  Over time a department's
list will presumably reach a point where no further cuts are
possible, though we haven't reached this point yet.

3.  Academic departments do not have a periodicals budget per se;
their annual allocation can be used to purchase anything except
subscriptions.  Each journal is assigned to the appropriate
department and coded to allow departmental lists to be printed.
Each department has a librarian liaison.  Requests for new journals
normally come from departmental faculty, though liaisons and other
library staff can often identify needs, particularly through review
of document delivery requests. Endowments separate from the library
materials budget currently support subscriptions in Asian, Judaic,
and Latin American studies.

                Keith R. Stetson
        Collection Development Librarian
     Nyselius Library, Fairfield University
            Fairfield, CT  06430-5195
       203-254-4044 x2184  Fax 203-254-4135
          kstetson@fair1.fairfield.edu