FY03 Serials Review Process
Introduction
The Collection Management Team is initiating the following review process for UM Libraries' serial subscriptions. This process is needed to ensure that the Libraries will be able to continue to balance its materials budget in the current atmosphere of budget uncertainty. The process is based on the regularly scheduled journal review process originally requested by the Provost and supported by the University Library Council. This year's process is occurring one year ahead of schedule and will replace the next regularly scheduled review. The review process is not a cancellation project. The UM Libraries believes that any cut to the Libraries' materials budget or any failure to provide funding for serials inflation will seriously reduce the value and effectiveness of our collections. At the same time, like all University departments, we have been directed to prepare for potential budget reductions. In addition to supporting budget management generally, the review will provide information that will inform priorities for building electronic collections.
The Libraries will review all continuing serial commitments, regardless of format. Most licensed electronic resources are serial commitments as are print journals, many materials in microformats, and standing orders for book series.
The Libraries' will review all serial subscriptions and identify priorities by the method described below. Faculty will be asked to review lists of lesser priority serials and advise on prioritizing those relevant to their teaching and research. Library faculty will then create master prioritized lists of serials and consult with faculty on whether any other lesser priority titles should be cancelled to support new purchases. Faculty will be able to justify changes to the prioritization or removal of titles from lists of serial titles.
Goals
- Evaluate all serial subscriptions (print, electronic, microforms, etc) to identify lesser priority serial titles for all subject areas.
- The implementation of the process will be managed by the subject teams.
- The Collection Management Team will coordinate the process and review the process.
- The process will be fair and open with all faculty having an opportunity to make recommendations
- The selection process will balance specific departmental needs and more interdisciplinary needs.
- The process will respect the Libraries' responsibilities to manage the collections budget in a responsible manner.
- The process will identify the lowest priority 25% of serials expenditures and sort these serial commitments into three levels. Later, the Libraries will work with faculty to sort the remaining 75% of serial expenditures into three quartiles by expenditure. (This data will assist in informing decisions regarding further building of electronic collections.)
Faculty will be involved in the process:
- The University Library Council will offer feedback on the framework and guidelines
- The Libraries will sponsor a meeting on November 22 to announce to faculty liaisons and department chairs the reason for the review, the timeline for the process, and the role of the faculty in the process.
- A subsequent announcement will be made to the entire campus encouraging faculty participation.
- Faculty will be encouraged to work closely with the Library faculty members working with their departments.
- Faculty will be asked to participate in the process of identifying serial titles and prioritizing serial titles.
- Faculty will have opportunity to review all lists of serials identified for the fourth quartile prioritization.
- Faculty will work with Library faculty members in the second phase of sorting the remaining 75% of titles into three quartiles.
Timeline for FY03 Serial Review
- August - October:
- Library faculty compile lists of titles and gather available data.
- November:
- November 22 initial meetings for faculty liaisons and department chairs; announcement to campus FYI describing the review project.
- December - February
- · Faculty work with Library faculty liaisons to prioritize lists of serials
- March:
- Early March, composite list of all titles prioritized in the lowest quartile of expenditures is posted on the web, announcements go out to faculty with deadline for final justification for retention.
- End of the month, deadline for faculty to offer justification of reprioritization.
- April:
- Library staff compile final lists of lower priority titles.
- Library staff begin work on sorting remaining 75% of expenditures into three quartiles.
Three tiered prioritization of fourth quartile serial titles
The nature of serial commitments typically makes it impossible to consult with faculty about cancellations in the short window between when budgets are announced and renewal decisions must be made. Recognizing that future funding for library collections are not guaranteed and also to allow for substitution of new commitments for old, the Libraries are seeking a more detailed prioritization of the lowest priority serials expenditures amounting to 25% of current spending (the lowest quartile). The Libraries will prioritize this quartile into the following three categories. The priority level reflects the priority for retention of the continuing commitment.
- Priority 3.
- These are the titles we believe could be canceled with the least damage to Library services. Some users will be inconvenienced or unserved but the item may be rarely used. Other access options may be available (ILL or document delivery) or the resource may be redundant to some extent.
- Priority 2.
- The cancellation of these titles will more severely damage Library service. A greater number of campus users will be inconvenienced or unserved. Other access options may be limited to ILL; the resource is less redundant.
- Priority 1.
- The cancellation of these titles will cause the greatest damage to Library service. Significant inconvenience for greater numbers of library users would result. The collections would be severely weakened.
