Date: Thu, 08 May 1997 08:55:15 -0400 From: Rosalind Tedford <Rosalind_L_Tedford@MTA.WFU.EDU> Subject: Belated Response: Serial Deselction & Full-Text Databases Hello everyone - Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to the list about my inquiry regarding whether any libraries are cancelling subscriptions to periodicals contained in full-text electronic databases. Most of my responses came from people who were also curious about what I found out. I have compiled the responses below, but am also placing my paper up on the WWW for anyone who is interested. There hasn't been a great deal of discussion of the topic in the literature, but there are a couple of items of interest. My bibliography is included in the paper. Thanks again for all of your assistance and I suspect it is a topic which will continue to be discussed. If you have questions, email me directly as I am signing off the list while on vacation and may not resubscribe for a while! My paper will be available at the following URL: http://www.wfu.edu/~tedforl9/library.htm Summary of responses: Our library has taken a proactive role in deselecting print subscriptions where the electronic version is available. We have recently started a subscription to the Project Muse database, and have cancelled the print subscriptions for the titles that we have taken in the past (some for 20 years!). The main reason for cancelling these titles is that we cannot afford the added cost of the print subscription + binding + shelf space. We have also done the same for the American Mathematical Society titles, SIAM Journals, and Journal of Biological Chemistry. We feel that we are taking some pretty significant risks by subscribing only to the print version, including assumptions that everyone has access to these journals anytime that they want from anywhere (Of course, this is not the case.) The type of software to access the articles (Acrobat, postscript, etc.) must also be made available to our patrons. Also, if we decide to drop our subscription in 10 years, we may lose access to any retrospective holdings that were available electronically. Finally, we will have to take the time and effort to train our patrons in accessing the journals online, as well as teach ourselves about each database (The ins and outs of accessing the articles vary widely). At this point in time, we are still new in accessing e-journals, but have generated a lot of excitement and enthusiasm about the journals. Hope that this helps. Mark McCallon Abilene Christian University markm@alcon.alc.org ****** We are not yet deselecting print journals because of e versions, but we will need to do so once we stabilize the e environment & have better links to indexing. In that case, I will encourage cancellation of all print duplicates for reasons or money & space. tom izbicki, collection development coordinator Eisenhower Library, JHU *** This looks like material for a good publication. We know we'll have to come to grips with this in the next couple of years, but so far have done no more than quit binding a couple of our most marginal journals that are in Project Muse. It's hard to make that big leap! I'm responding from a liberal arts college with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. Will be interested in learning what you find out! Carolyn Gaswick cgaswick@albion.edu *** Briefly, we have mixed views on this. Some collection development folks are leery of cancelling paper, since there is no guarantee that some of these full text databases will continue to include a particular title. Others are fully ready to unload the cost of a paper subscription. In one case, a bibliographer ordered microfiche as an archival copy for something we would also have electronic access to. In some cases, we have reduced the number of copies of a particular title across the campus libraries (eg, Time, US News, Wall St Journal). As far as I know we have no written policy to cover this circumstance. For now it's been pretty much up to each library (we have 6 major units) and the individual bibliographer. ########################################################################### # Susan Davis Head, Periodicals Central Technical Services Lockwood Library Bldg. Buffalo, NY 14260-2200 (716) 645-2784 (716) 645-5955 fax unlsdb@acsu.buffalo.edu *** In my short 3 years here, we have cancelled a few print subscriptions. Some were Wilson indexes that were little used because of ProQuest on CD-ROM (although we are now going to EbscoHost) and some indexes that have low usage and now have an electronic equivalent. For example, we just cancelled our Music Index because RILM is now on FirstSearch. We cancelled some print titles that we were receiving in fiche as well. We selected print titles that were available on ProQuest so that the students would still have timely access, but retain the most important titles on fiche for now. > 1. What goes into making the decision to deselect - money, space, usage, > indexing. All of the above went into the decision-making process and additionally the timeliness of the delivery. Some titles have a contractual delay before they are available (via ProQuest at least -- up to 18 months! I think). > 2. Have your written collection development policies been updated to > reflect this process? (I would be especially grateful for any reference to > collection development policies up on the WWW or where I could read a copy > of the deselection policy!) We have talked about doing this, but we are small and are in the midst of conversion to Sirsi, so we haven't gotten around to it yet. We are also just building our website. ========================================= Lauren Corbett Collection Management Librarian Everett Library, Queens College Charlotte, NC *** Rosalind, Villanova University has not taken a definitive stand on retaining paper when there is an electronic version available. We have a division of opinion. My personal thoughts are that electronic versions are not yet the official versions of journals, and the paper editions usually include additional material not found in the electronic. Furthermore, I feel that publishers are testing the market. When they have the potential subscriber base to support electronic only, they will or may drop the paper. That leaves us in the undesirable situation of supporting two formats for some titles, but that is the nature of a transition period. I would not be too quick to abandon paper. Many of our users are not ready to accept electronic versions yet. Dennis Lambert Head, Collection Dev./Mgmt. Falvey Mem. Library Villanova Univ. (610) 519-7966 Lambert@ucis.vill.edu ***
