The projected cost for Cook Library?s existing journal subscriptions for FY13 is $1,000,000, with at least another $60,000 to be added for inflation. With a flat budget and a 6 to 12 percent journal inflation rate, this is an amount the library?s budget cannot sustain. We must cancel journals in order to reduce our subscription expenditures and the target amount to cancel for this project is $200,000. Please note, this target is based on the library?s budget remaining the same in 2013; any budget cuts by the State could change this target amount.
Because of publisher and vendor requirements, we must make our cancellation decisions as early in September as possible. Mary Gilbert, the Assistant University Librarian for Content Management, will send each department representative a list of all their journal titles with format and subscription cost for departments to review for possible cancellations. Usage statistics, although available for many of our e-titles, will take longer to compile. We hope this data will enable the departments to make well-informed recommendations about how the library can reduce the budget while still meeting departments’ information needs.
In addition, Cook Library has created a website with more information about journal cancellations, timelines, cancellation criteria, titles under consideration, and other information. The site also provides individuals with the opportunity to comment on titles that departments have nominated for cuts. Please check this site frequently as we will be adding titles as they are nominated by departments. The site is available at: {http://cooklibrary.towson.edu/journalreview/2013/index.cfm}.
Journal cancellation projects are a standard method among academic libraries for controlling journal costs; in fact, many libraries have such projects every 4 or 5 years. Cook Library has been fortunate; the last journal cancellation project the library had was in 1992.
Thank you for your help in reviewing our journal subscriptions. Please contact Mary Gilbert at {mgilbert@towson.edu} if you have any questions.
