Reconfiguring Collection Development for the Future: A Faculty Print Serials Review

Print and electronic resource selection and deselection are essential collection management processes in academic libraries; however, deselection is often overlooked. During this difficult economic time when accountability is at the forefront of our thinking, the librarians at the University of South Florida are placing higher importance on faculty opinions and advice and including them in the decision-making process. A recent Faculty Print Serials Review was conducted with the intention of replacing low-use print titles with high demand print or electronic resources. Two concepts motivated this project. 1) Journals have long been an important resource for faculty and students of an academic institution, but the format in which these resources are primarily used has changed with increased electronic availability. 2) Collection development librarians at USF wish to deliver high-demand resources to their faculty and students. In today’s economy, in order to make this concept a reality, low-use titles must be relinquished. This presentation will describe the process and resources (physical, electronic, and personnel) the Library employed to identify journal titles that were deemed low use titles and could be replaced with higher demand titles. Many of these titles were available in print format only and had no electronic equivalent, while others were available with varying levels of full text through one or more of the libraries’ databases. Faculty were invited to assess and comment on the need for journal titles that were ‘print only’ and ‘print + online’ through SurveyMonkey and a custom-designed web site. Attendees will learn the results of the Serials Review, the procedures used to identify current print subscriptions that could be discontinued, and how we were able to painlessly engage faculty in the review process