2005 Journal Cancellation Project




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GALEN Home > Research Assistance > Reshaping Scholarly Communication > 2005 Journal Cancellation Project

Letter from University Librarian Karen Butter

The Library has faced a flat collections budget since the 2000-01 fiscal year and yearly inflationary price increases as high as 20%. These increases force the Library to find ways to cut expenditures while maintaining a current, comprehensive collection.

In the 2004-05 fiscal year, the Library had to cut approximately $120,000 in collections expenses. This cut was necessary in order for us to both meet inflationary price increases and to purchase key new online resources.

This website is designed to make you aware of the issues affecting the library budget and to encourage your participation in the solutions. To learn more about why cancellations are necessary, please see For More Information and visit the other areas of the Reshaping Scholarly Communication section.

Decisions on Proposed Journal Cancellations



	The Library's decisions are available regarding journals proposed for cancellation or a change of format in 2005. This list was finalized based on feedback solicited during August and September of 2004. See 2005 Library Journal Decisions (PDF). As of March 2005, the UC Libraries have a new agreement with Blackwell for shared online access to almost 600 journals, as well as more reasonable annual price increases over the next three years. UCSF was able to maintain current access to all but a handful of journals. Send comments about the cancellation project to Julia Kochi, Director, Digital Library & Collections, or Anneliese Taylor, Collection Development Manager.

Project Summary

The following criteria were used to select print journals for cancellation:

-	Print titles with online access:	Where possible, print copy was cancelled and online availability was maintained.
-	Print titles with no online access:	Journals with no or low usage (during several in-house use studies) were subject to cancellation, particularly titles that also have high subscription prices and high yearly increases.
-	Blackwell journals:	Print copies were cancelled for most Blackwell journals, however these journals are still available online. About 20 Blackwell journals are no longer available to UCSF in either print or online format.
-	Overall regard for journal coverage within all subject areas.

Once print journals with no online equivalent are cancelled, UCSF faculty, staff, and students can request copies of articles from these titles via Interlibrary Borrowing.

For More Information



	Yearly price increases on recurring, subscription-based resources such as journals and electronic databases have far outpaced increases in the Library�s annual collections budget. For an institution such as UCSF, where over 75% of our collections expenditures are committed to recurring costs, high price increases can be detrimental to our collections as we are forced to devote increasingly more of our budget to purchase the same amount of material. For years the Library handled these increases by purchasing fewer one-time expense materials such as books, but it is no longer possible to redistribute the monies in this fashion. In 2003 and 2004 the Library was able to reduce costs by cancelling the print version of journals where online access to full text was also available. This cutting of duplicate formats meant that UCSF researchers did not lose access to any journal titles. For 2005 we have identified as many titles with both print and online access as possible in order to lessen the impact of print cancellations, but we unfortunately had to also select titles with no online access in order to realize the needed savings. The UCSF Library is dedicated to supporting the research, instructional, and clinical information needs of the UCSF campus community. We welcome your questions and feedback about the cancellation process, and strive to provide a collection of relevant, cost-effective research materials to the UCSF community.

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