![[Marshall University Libraries]](http://www.marshall.edu/library/template/images/lib_logo.gif){kind=logo}
MU Libraries Serials Cancellations
Budget Intro
Like all areas of the University, the Libraries are faced with difficult choices in this time of diminished resources. The rising costs of scholarly materials, however, place a special burden on the Library budgets. Over the past decade the costs of serials have increased almost 10% per year. Over the same time period, new online information resources like EbscoHost have been introduced and have quickly become indispensable. The statewide budget crisis only compounds this problem. Marshall's situation is not unique - this is a national concern.
The issues of increasing cost, accelerating supply and limited funds are in the main responsible for our current need to cancel over $200,000 worth of serials subscriptions in order to balance the 2003-04 budget; The lists of possible titles for cancellation are available at the links on the left. Below is background information explaining how the situation arose, the decision-making process, and the Libraries' plans.
Background
The painful process of reducing subscriptions is required by the converging pressures of budget reductions and unrelenting inflationary pressures. In fiscal year 2002-03 the University Administration was able to direct additional funds to the Libraries in order to prevent purchasing cuts, but for FY03-04 the situation is more bleak. Because serials comprise over 90% of the materials budget, while monographs consume less than 10%, we cannot otherwise balance the budget even though serials will be allowed to consume monographic funds this year. We are greatly reducing the amount we will spend on monographs by purchasing only a small number of titles that faculty deem to be critical for research and teaching. Even coupled with reduced spending in other Library areas, serials cuts are a necessity.
The Decision-Making Process
The Libraries began working with the Faculty Senate Library Committee last year to formulate a response. Because serials and other continuations (like electronic databases) consume such a large percentage of the Library budget, it was apparent that serials cancellations would be needed. The Libraries and the Committee quickly agreed on two guiding principles. First, maintaining access to intellectual content would be the primary goal. Second, we decided to focus on the materials with the highest cost and lowest usage.
The Libraries' Plan
- The Libraries would first find any possible savings by eliminating any duplications in format or location. Serials that are purchased in multiple formats, such as print, online and microfilm will be reduced to a single format whenever possible. We will not commercially bind any print periodicals this year as well.
- Additionally, book purchases would be drastically reduced for this year in order to limit the number of serials cancellations necessary. While book purchasing can be resumed easily, once serials are eliminated it is difficult to restore them without gaps in the collection.
- The Libraries also realized significant cost savings by
eliminating some print standing orders for legal materials and
subscribing to WestLaw Campus online instead. We also achieved
additional savings by shifting some online subscriptions to other
vendors who were able to provide better pricing. And some
low-use electronic databases were eliminated.
- It was also apparent that such a large reduction in serials (almost 33%) would be drastic if applied equally across all academic disciplines. When targeting those titles with the highest cost and low relative usage it was clear that those happen to be serials in the hard sciences. The Libraries proposed a plan that was accepted by the College of Science wherein the Libraries would provide faculty with pay-per-view access for articles in the cancelled titles. Each department in the College was given a list of their serial subscriptions, along with cost and estimated usage figures for each title. The College determined a dollar figure in cancellations for each department to meet, and the Libraries will work with those lists to insure that article access can be provided. This service is now available to COS faculty. More information is available at the Library's Information Delivery Services (IDS) page.
Last updated 02-04-04