Albertsons Library is committed to communicating our collections decisions to the Boise State community. This page will document the collection decisions for FY20.
The Library’s Collections Council evaluated underutilized resources, primarily those that are negotiated on an annual basis, to make decisions on cuts to existing subscriptions. Any reductions in serials we make in FY20, will reduce the impact of inflation in the year to come. To meet our goal of reducing the serials commitments of $100,000 by December 31, 2019, the Collections Council worked with library liaisons to:
- Reduce the burden on the McCain Endowments to refocus what is purchased around a core collections philosophy – See McCain Collection subscriptions changes Dec. 2019
- Discontinue individual, low use subscriptions — See Library appropriated collections changes and cancellations FY20
Taylor and Francis Journal Package Assessment 2019
To maximize the use of the library materials budget, the library strategically reduced subscriptions to Taylor and Francis journal titles to meet the constraints of the budget and provide flexibility in the future. Why Taylor and Francis?
- The one-year contract was due for renewal
- It is one of 2 large, one-year packages that the library maintains
- An analysis of average use for 2016-2018 revealed that approximately 94% of the titles have been used less than 50 times a year, approximately once per week
Starting in February 2020 the library will no longer be able to provide access to the suite of Taylor & Francis journals that it has in the past. The library will be subscribing to just over seventy Taylor & Francis journals.
In the fall of 2019, all of the Taylor and Francis provided journal content was reviewed and assessed based on four criteria. Mary Aagard researched criteria other academic libraries have used to evaluate subscriptions and developed a methodology that includes four criteria and a point system designed to rank serials. The criteria and assigned points include:
- Alternative Online Coverage
- 3 = no other online coverage
- 2 = some portion of online coverage
- 1 = 18 month embargo online coverage
- The number of CY19 “rule of 5” uses, i.e. the number of uses in the most recent 5 years
- 3 = 150-100 uses
- 2 = 99-50 uses
- 1 = 49-25 uses
- 0 = 24-0 uses
- Cost per use
- 3 = $0-4.99
- 2 = $5.00-9.99
- 1 = $10-19.99
- 0 = $20+
- Would the cost of individual article purchases be less expensive than an annual subscription? Calculated based on the “rule of 5” articles uses x $63/article summed in comparison to the current retail subscription price
- 1 = yes
- 0 = no
The top 150 titles, ranked by highest average use, were assessed from the master list of 3,047 titles. Librarian liaisons reviewed the selection list and made comments about individual titles. Out of those 150 titles, the library will retain and subscribe to 74 titles.