Serials Review Guidelines
Serials review data is compiled annually at the beginning of April. The ultimate goal of the annual serials review is to insure that the collection
reflects current academic needs and makes the best use of available funding.
As much as possible, our goal is also to provide full-text access to journals
to accommodate remote access, avoiding duplication whenever possible.
Spreadsheets listing journals, continuations and memberships purchased with
serials funds by subject areas can be accessed through a link from the main
Collection Development page. For each title we have included:
- acq type (p=paid subscription; w=paid with another title; g=gift; m=part
of membership or package deal)
- library fund code
- prices paid in the past two years (where available)
- the subsequent percentage the price increased from one year to the next
- usage stats for the past 4 years (where available) for both current and
back issues
Each title should be reviewed in light of the following criteria (these are
not in priority order):
- Quality of title (faculty assessment, nature and number of indexing sources,
etc.)
- Significance to undergraduate teaching and study needs
- Significance to graduate student and faculty research needs
- Cost per use and inflation rate
- Availability of alternatives to local ownership (i.e. timely, cost-effective
document deliver or electronic full-text access)
In other words, low use titles should be considered for cancellation, particularly
if the cost per use is high and the title is readily available through IDS.
Titles that are duplicated in one of our electronic full-text sources should
also be considered for cancellation, if the electronic service seems stable
and the electronic access isn't dependent on having a print subscription. Titles
elected to be cancelled should be indicated with the appropriate data on the
Cancellation Worksheet available on the Reference NT folder.
If there are titles which you and your faculty feel should be added to the
on-site collection due to shifts in curriculum or new titles have
recently emerged, please include them on the New Title Worksheet
available on the Reference NT folder. Please use our most recent
Ebsco title index (available in the Serials Dept.) to record the
current price (not Ulrich's, etc.). Also include the Ebsco order
number and the fund to be charged. If not available through Ebsco,
please give as much information about the title as possible.
Decisions and worksheets are due to the Head of Collection Development/Acquisitions no later than Sept. 15 each year.
Maintained by Sheila Smokey
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