Getting the Best Out of Print: Shelf-Ready Journals

For many libraries, the shift to electronic format has also come at a time of unprecedented budget pressures. In addition to collection shifts and cuts, staffing is often reduced or frozen. The mantra of doing more with less can only go so far. Libraries are forced to make very difficult resource allocation decisions. Often those decisions result in a lack of resources for handling print journals with an increased focus on electronic formats. But in the rapidly expanding electronic format world, some titles remain only available in print. Additionally some libraries continue to order print copies that replicate the online content to fulfill consortial collection development agreements and for archival purposes.

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Benefits of Using a Subscription Agent and Cost-Benefit Analysis

Libraries, corporations and institutions that are weathering the economic recession and are positioning themselves for growth and strong competitive positions in the recovery period are continuing to focus on cost reduction and improved operational efficiencies. An effective subscription agent can play an important role in the procurement and timely delivery of print and electronic content to support informed business decisions and provide a positive contribution in the balance of costs and benefits to its customers

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Managing Print and Electronic Serials Collections

With great budget cuts and a shrinking staff, Southern Connecticut University Library was faced with finding new ways to provide additional library content to a growing student body. Finding a way to better manage and enhance their print and electronic serials collection was a core concern. WT Cox Subscriptions was challenged with helping Southern increase the level of service needed by the serials vendor and to help provide a savings on securing Southern Connecticut’s serials collection.

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Rebuilding a Collection After Katrina

When the man-made canal walls collapsed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the basement of the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library flooded. Howard-Tilton is Tulane’s main library and supports the university's undergraduate and graduate programs in the humanities, social sciences, and science and engineering. A disaster recovery firm removed and froze damaged but salvageable materials. Items that fell off the shelves into the muck were not recovered. 

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Weeding

There are two aspects to weeding. The first is the writing of a collection development or selection policy that is appropriate for your community; this will serve as a guideline as you make decisions about your collection. The second is applying that policy as you make decisions about the materials in your collection. This fact sheet offers a selection of resources for collection development and evaluation, many applicable to all types of libraries and others for specific types of libraries.

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E-Resource Collection Development: A Survey of Current Practices in Academic Libraries

As the amount of money spent on electronic resources increases, it seems fitting that as librarians we examine the process we use for selecting such materials. Collection development policies for print collections and ordering processes for such materials have become commonplace at many, if not all, academic libraries. As the transfer from paper to electronic resources occurs, especially in the acquisition of serial titles, we felt it necessary to examine the process we and other academic libraries use to select electronic resources.

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