Serials Case Study
You need to cancel approximately $8,000 worth of journals in order to balance your budget for 2020. Based on the data below, which of these will you cancel? How did you arrive at your decision?
| Title | Publisher | Cost | Aggre- ​gator cover- age |
Faculty Comments |
Institu- |
Use 2018 (down-loads) |
Cost per Use |
ILL/ course reserves allowed |
Journal |
Multi-year |
Perpetual Access |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Journal of Nano | Commercial | $2,000 |
no |
considers essential |
8 plus editor | 1,000 | $2 | yes | 4.3 | 2022 | yes |
| Journal of Energy | Commercial | $2,000 | no |
keep |
6 | 2,000 | $2 | yes | 3.3 | yes | |
| Journal of Airplanes | Nonprofit | $2,000 | yes, 3 months embargo | keep | 5 | 50 | $40 | yes | 3.5 | yes | |
| Journal of Modeling | Nonprofit | $2,000 | yes, 1 year embargo |
keep for future hires, not essential currently | 0 | 50 | $40 |
no
|
1.5 | yes | |
| Journal of the Society for Remote Sensing | Society | $1,000 | OA but $1,000 is requested contribution | keep | 15 plus editor | 200 |
$5
|
yes | 3.5 | yes | |
| Journal of the Society for Robots | Society | $1,000 | no | keep | 3 |
2,000
|
$.50 | no | 4.5 |
|
no |
| Journal of Statics | Commercial | $2,000 | no | Prefer to keep but reviewing standards have lowered. |
5 | 500 |
$4
|
no | 1.5 | no | |
| Journal of Circuits | Commercial | $2,000 | no | keep | 0 | 100 |
$20 |
yes | 1.5 | no |
--Jill Powell, June 2019
Case Studies
Case Study eBooks Vendor Decision
With a limited budget you have to choose between 2 ebooks vendors. Both cover the same subject area and have a mix of popular and scholarly titles. Bayside covers more popular titles but includes academic titles. Sassafras covers more scholarly title but includes popular titles. Below is a table with more details. Which one do you decide to lease? Explain your decision-making. How will you fill unmet needs by not having both?
| Vendor | Scope | Usage | Lease/Own | User Privacy | Indemnification, Extra site fees | Nondisclosure agreement |
Walk-in use |
ILL/reserves |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayside |
Mix, more popular titles |
10,000 / year | Lease | Yes | no | no | yes | allows chapters |
| Sassafras | Mix, more academic titles | 5,000 / year | Lease | No | no | no | no | none allowed |
- User privacy refers to whether or not the vendor tracks names of individual users or keeps data anonymous.
- Nondisclosure agreements refer to whether the institution must keep vendor prices confidential.
- Indemnification refers to where any lawsuits would be litigated.
- Extra sites refers to whether the vendors charges extra for access from other campus locations than the main campus.
- Might be worth looking at monthly usage, to see spikes.
The case studies on this page are adapted from ideas in Fundamentals of Collection Development and Management, 4th edition, by Peggy Johnson, ALA, Chicago, 2018.