|
Frequently Asked Questions
Introduction
Procedures
Budget Issues
Scholarly Communication
How Do We Compare With Other Libraries?
After the Serials Review
Introduction
- What are the goals of this project? Why are faculty being asked to review serials subscriptions?
There are two goals for this review:
- To ensure that our funding is directed to providing access to the journals most critical to your research and teaching needs
- To identify the subscriptions with the least impact on your research and teaching that can be canceled to stay within our collections budget.
It has been many years since the Library has reviewed journal subscriptions across all disciplines. Faculty research and teaching have evolved in that time, and the Library wants to make sure that we are subscribing to journals that are relevant to your current needs.
Our collection budget projections indicate that the Library cannot sustain the current level of serials subscriptions and stay within our expected budget for the next two years. We need to cancel a minimum of 10% of the titles under review to stay within budget.
- What is the timeline for this project?
The project will be completed during Spring Quarter. The timeline is:
- Phase 1:
-
| April 27 |
Survey lists made available for faculty review |
| May 15 |
Faculty complete surveys of serials lists |
- Phase 2:
-
| June 1 |
Tentative cancellation list sent to all faculty for comment |
| June 15 |
Faculty complete comment on *tentative* cancellation list |
| June 30 |
Final cancellation list completed |
Procedures
- Which serials are being reviewed? Which are not being reviewed?
The current review covers all the Library's local serials subscriptions. Most of these are print journals..
The electronic serials that we purchase jointly with other UC libraries through the California Digital Library (CDL) are not being reviewed. Normally, these subscriptions cover a set list of journal titles (e.g. all journals from a specific publisher), and do not allow us to make individual title choices within those sets. The large sets of journals in these licenses represent subscriptions across UC campuses and normally we gain access to many more journals at UCSB than we would have been able to afford with local funding.
- Why don't I see all of my journals on your review list?
There are a couple of reasons:
- Because of the interdisciplinary nature of research, many of the titles you and your students use will be on other lists. You can view and comment on other lists by going to the appropriate discipline list:
- It is also possible that some of your journals are not under review because we purchase them through UC's California Digital Library (CDL). See the list of titles we receive through CDL for more information.
If you don't find what you're looking for, or would like us to investigate the status of a title for you, simply list the journal in the comments box at the bottom of the survey you complete and indicate your level of use. We want your comments. We'll check it out for you and get back to you.
- How will individual serials be evaluated?
The evaluation will include a number of phases:
- Phase 1: Faculty will review serials in their areas and indicate which titles are highest priority for their research and teaching.
Librarian subject specialists will use the faculty responses along with factors such as usage, cost per use, impact factor, and availability at other campuses to create a list of titles to consider for cancellation.
- Phase 2: Faculty will then have a chance to review and comment on the cancellation list before any cancellations are made.
- Can I appeal a decision to cancel a journal?
Yes. If you see a title on the proposed list in Phase 3 that you believe should not be cancelled, please send us a feedback and explain the importance of the title to your work. We will be attempting to accommodate concerns, and will discuss options with you.
- When will the cancellations go into effect?
Most of our subscriptions run on a calendar year so the cancellations will take effect in January 2010.
- Who do I contact with questions?
- What can a faculty member do to help?
The most immediate action a faculty member can take is to participate actively in the review by giving the Library your feedback. Talk with your collection specialist about the review process. Review and rank the list of subscriptions for your subject areas.
- Provide input in the review of titles assigned to subject areas that relate directly to your teaching and research, and of titles of interdisciplinary interest;
- Stay open to receiving copies of some articles via interlibrary loan or a document delivery service.
Faculty can also engage in activities that have an enormous impact on scholarly communication issues. The Library encourages you to:
- Learn more about journal pricing and inflation
- Be aware of publisher policies regarding authors' retention of copyright
- Examine the scholarly journals in which you publish as well as your service on editorial boards
- Support the efforts by professional associations, societies, and other organizations to develop alternative, less costly means of distributing scholarly information
- Be informed about scholarly communication issues, especially within your discipline.
Budget Issues
- What is the cause of the serials problem?
Purchasing power for library collections has fallen approximately 25% over the last several years. Even relatively stable and flat budgets have resulted in decreased ability to purchase academic content. Several factors contribute to this loss:
- Inflation for journals has averaged 9-12% for the last several years, far exceeding consumer price increases. Each year, the cost of supporting journal subscriptions has eroded the Library's ability to fund monographs and other scholarly materials.
- Inflation for monographs has also steadily increased in the last few years, ranging from about 3-5% per year, depending on the discipline.
- Online resources (databases) of content that were traditionally a one-time cost in print now normally become an ongoing subscription cost, aggravating the dominance of ongoing serials expenditures in the collections budget.
- Unfavorable foreign exchange rates have increased costs for foreign resources.
- Proliferation of new journal content has increased demand for acquiring new titles.
- What has the library already done to cope with serials budget issues?
The library has been using a number of strategies over the past several years to mitigate inflationary impacts and to maximize access to journal content for you and your students. The primary goal is to preserve access to the broadest range of relevant unique content.
The Library participates in UC system-wide licensing of online journal content. UCSB benefits greatly from the system-wide e-journal packages and other databases that are negotiated for all campuses. The prices we pay are considerably lower than if we had a single campus online license, and normally we gain access to a number of journals and other content that we would not otherwise be able to afford. Benefits include:
- Access to a much larger number of journal titles
- Caps on journal inflation that help control budget
- Leverage the power of UC to influence publisher business models and cap inflation rates
- Maintenance of shared print copy for journals in major e-journal licenses
The library has reduced expenditures to the vast majority of duplicate print journals where reliable long-term access to the online versions is available, in addition to a shared print copy at the southern Regional Library Facility. UC obtains single print copies of journals provided in electronic format as back-up for electronic versions. UC negotiates for perpetual access to online content purchased.
UC librarians collaborate extensively system-wide in all academic disciplines to leverage funding both to ensure diversity of collections across the system and to share expertise to support faculty and student research needs. Increasingly, UC collaborates nationally with other major library organizations and academic libraries to build and preserve collections.
The Library's state of the art interlibrary loan service, and participation in mass digitization efforts, and systemwide collaborative collection building capitalizes on technological advancements to provide rapid delivery of content that is not in local collections.
The library Joins all UC libraries in strongly supporting a number of initiatives for alternative and transformative creation, preservation and communication of scholarly content in a search for more sustainable ways to ensure long term access and preservation of the scholarly record.
- What is the dollar amount of the cancellation?
The goal is to cancel a minimum of $100,000 in journal subscriptions, or approximately 10% of the locally subscribed print journals.
- Aren't there other areas of the library's budget that can be reduced to save subscriptions?
Like so many research libraries, we have fewer resources ever year that can be used to help us meet an increasing array of goals and objectives. While the Library has considered reductions in multiple areas of its operations, including personnel, such cuts must be balanced against a direct impact on library services and our users' expectations. For the past several years we have evaluated not only the need for positions, but also possibly repurposing them. We have instituted few new positions in the last decade; instead we have opted to take advantage of openings and use them to strategically address user needs.
- Can the library save money if it purchases only online journals?
Often, but not always. It is true that moving a title from print to electronic can usually result in savings. For some publishers, the savings is between 5 and 10 percent. However, at this point we have already moved most of our titles to electronic versions only.
- If we cancel a print subscription and obtain access to the journal online, how can we be sure that the online access won't go away?
When we subscribe to an online journal we sign a license agreement with the publisher. It is our policy to alter the terms of the agreement to ensure perpetual access to content we have paid for. Even if we later cancel the subscription, we will maintain access to the years we have purchased.
- Can I access online journals from off-campus?
Yes! Since access is limited to members of the UCSB community you will need to log in to our proxy server or VPN.
- Will journal cancellations be necessary in future years?
It is hard to predict. If inflation rates for journals remain above the level of increases to the Library's budget, future cancellations will be needed. We will continue to advocate for caps on inflation rates by publishers as well as work with faculty to consider alternative and more sustainable publishing options.
Scholarly Communication
- What about Open Access? Won't that make journals free?
Open Access (OA) literature is free and available to anyone online. Like traditional journals, most OA journals are peer-reviewed and edited. The Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) currently lists 3,656 OA journals. However, at this time, open access models have not replaced the traditional scholarly publishing model, and we must still wrestle with rising costs.
Though free for readers, OA journals still incur production costs. These costs are managed in various ways, including fees for authors or for institutions. OA publishers and even traditional scholarly publishers with open access options are exploring the various issues to build sustainable economic models.
Faculty authors can exert their influence over the publishing process by managing their rights as authors, being selective about the editorial boards they serve on, and submitting their articles to peer-reviewed OA journals. Several studies have even shown that research published in OA journals or in digital repositories is beginning to have greater impact than that published in journals vetted through commercial publishers because the OA research reaches a wider, global audience.
The University of California and the Santa Barbara campus are actively involved in scholarly communication initiatives.
How Do We Compare With Other Libraries?
- What are other research libraries doing to manage the serials crisis?
Many other libraries, both inside and outside California, have been and are currently evaluating their serials subscriptions.
- Are we reviewing journals subscribed to through the California Digital Library?
No, our current review is for journals subscribed to locally at UCSB.
When we purchase serials through the California Digital Library (CDL) we work in collaboration with the libraries on other campuses to acquire materials needed systemwide. Individual campuses can opt to license or not license a particular package of journals, but cannot independently select individual titles within those packages.
By collaboratively licensing journal packages we obtain access to far more content at a lower price than we could possibly license as an individual library.
After the Serials Review
- May I recommend titles the library should add?
Yes! We welcome your recommendations for new subscriptions. We can be alert to adding these to the online journal licenses through CDL or considering them for local purchase. Because of our budget situation, we will need to review new titles carefully and find an equivalent dollar amount of subscriptions to cancel in order to pay for them. Please let the librarian subject specialist in your area know at any time throughout the year when you find a journal that you think we should have at UCSB.
- Can I donate a personal journal copy to the library?
The Library appreciates the offer, but in most cases, publishers have different pricing structures for individuals and institutions and the cost to individuals is typically much less. Publishers do not expect the personal copy to be used in a Library, and doing so may violate a subscription agreement. In addition, arrangements for using personal copies may result in significant delays, gaps in coverage, and other problems for library patrons.
- How can I get access to titles once they've been canceled?
Articles and other documents that are required but no longer subscribed to at UCSB will still be available through Interlibrary Loan. This service is free to members of the UCSB community. In many cases, articles will be delivered directly to your desktop. Our goal is to make delivery as seamless and fast as possible.
| 
