Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Reprise, Or Round Three: Using A Database Management Program As A Decision-Support System For The Cancellation Of Serials, Judith M. Nixon

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Annual journal inflation rates of eight percent or higher have compelled libraries to cancel journals. Since 1992 Purdue Libraries have had three major cancellation projects. This article reviews how the Humanities, Social Science and Education Library approached this task in 2009 and developed a database management program to identify titles based on two criteria: low use and the availability of the title in full text in one of three aggregator databases. The education and humanities departments reached the cancellation goal, but several social science departments had to transfer funds from the book budget to accommodate their journal subscription costs. This …