Adventures in Rightsizing : Enhancing Discovery and Research With Open Access Journals in the University Library

Academic libraries have long had print journal collections to support the university’s discovery and research needs. However, they are also continually challenged with needs for relevant content, cost control, and space issues; some academic libraries have downsized their print journal collections as a result. Many academic libraries are replacing some print journal subscriptions with online subscriptions and supplementing with open access journals. Pittsburg State University’s (PSU) Axe Library faces the challenge of providing journal access in order to support the university’s needs and stay on budget. To that end, PSU drastically weeded its print journals in 2016 and later began to rightsize the subscription print and online journals. In 2017, it also began rightsizing open access journals due to noticing high usage statistics for open access journals not in the library’s journal portal, duplication of open access journals in various open access databases, and bad URLs for open access journals. This article details PSU’s efforts to rightsize open access journals with the goal being a relevant journal collection and services to enhance the discovery and research experience