UST libraries ask: Which journals should it add, keep or cancel?
From Linda Hulbert, Associate Director of Technical Services
O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center
The process of selecting information resources (books, journal subscriptions and electronic resources) for the scholarly needs of the UST community is based on collaboration between library staff, faculty and university administration. There are a number of factors that are weighed and balanced throughout the year as we make decisions on purchases: available budget, costs of resources, economic trends in the publishing industry, the balance between print and electronic resources, use of materials and the allocation of resources to specific academic areas.
The libraries are grateful for an increase in university support for the coming year. As we consider the many possibilities that exist in information resources, we keep in mind several principles: our role as a library serving the curricular needs of a comprehensive institution; the shift in user demand from printed materials to electronic (i.e., we’ve seen a 40 percent drop in the use of our print journals in the last four years). Library resources still are being used, but increasingly those materials that are available via the Internet are the most popular.
We take our role as stewards of the university’s resources very seriously. In making our collection development decisions for the coming year, we have:
- Evaluated the use of all our journals
- Consulted with faculty in each discipline regarding their need for and use of journals
- Determined the full-text availability of journals, especially those to which we subscribe in print
- Minimized duplication between print and electronic resources
- Minimized duplication between the UST libraries
- Identified new resources that are appropriate and valuable for our community
- Directed additional funds to the purchase of books in certain academic areas
We invite the campus community to review and comment on a number of suggestions we have for changes in our journal holdings. We are including a listing of journal titles that we propose migrating from print to electronic access only (176 titles – see the migration list). We also propose canceling 45 titles (see the cancellation list).
Please contact your subject librarian or Linda Hulbert, (651) 962-5016, by Friday, Sept. 16, with any comments about titles on these lists, or with any suggestions for resources that the libraries should be considering for purchase.
