Serials Review Project Introduction This year Joyner Library has begun an on-going review of its current serial subscriptions. A number of factors have led the library faculty tb decide that an on-going review is necessary. 1. The prices of journals and other serials continue to rise at an alarming rate. The attached articles give details of these costs: and their impact on academic libraries around the country. New disciplines are emerging rapidly, and there appears to be an increasingly shorter half-life for materials in certain fields. Departments are already identifying as essential more serial titles than the library can afford to purchase. The library's materials budget must respond to a variety of needs in addition to the demand for current subscriptions. For example, materials must be purchased to support study in newly developing fields and deficiencies identified by accrediting agencies must be corrected. The level of funding for library materials has not increased as rapidly as costs have increased, and the amount of increases which can be expected in the future is uncertain. 6. It is the library's responsibility to be prepared to make collection development decisions, including cancellations, in an informed manner. In order to have available the information needed to make informed decisions, the library has identified and begun to use a variety of mechanisms to gather that information on a routine basis. These mechanisms include faculty ranking of journals, use studies, review of interlibrary loan records, comparison of titles with those listed in indexes and recommended lists, and faculty review of individual titles. No single mechanism is adequate within itself. However, information collected from a variety of sources will enable the university to make the best decisions possible even when those decisions are difficult. Current Evaluation Activities During the Fall Semester, faculty in each department/school were asked to rank journals in their disciplines using a five-point scale. These rankings will be used to identify core journals which the faculty consider essential as well as journals which are no longer considered necessary to meet curricular or research needs. Journal use studies in the Current Periodicals Room, Microforms, and the stacks will identify low-use items which will then be targeted for further review. In Current Periodicals and the stacks, use is counted as each journal is reshelved. In Microforms, use is tallied from call slips. The Current Periodicals and Microforms studies are being conducted both semesters this academic year. The use study of bound journals in the stacks began in Spring Semester. These studies will continue in the future, » possibly in scaled-down versions, to insure that materials used for courses taught in alternate years will be evaluated fairly and that data will reflect changing patterns of use. & Collection development staff will continue to review interlibrary loan journal requests to identify patterns of borrowing which may indicate areas of weakness in the collection and will continue to check indexes and recommended lists of serials to identify journals which should be considered for purchase. Future Evaluation Activities Other evaluation techniques such as citation studies and evaluation of individual journal issues by faculty and library staff to determine relevancy and quality will be used to supplement the techniques already in place. Use of Information Generated by Evaluation Activities Use study data will not be used as the sole criterion in subscription renewal decisions. When low-use journals are identified, faculty will be asked to evaluate those titles for their relevancy to the curriculum and to faculty and student research activities. Faculty will be consulted before any decisions are made to cancel journals and will be supplied with as much -information as is available. Conclusion Although it may be desirable for the library to subscribe to any journal relevant to curricular and research needs, it is not possible for the reasons, already cited. Therefore the best alternative is to gather use and evaluation data on a continuing basis so that informed decisions can be made. e EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY Faculty Senate Greenville, North Carolina 27858-4353 (919) 757-6537 March 1, 1989 Dr. Richard Eakin, Chancellor East Carolina University Spilman Greenville, N. C. 27858 Dear Chancellor Eakin: On February 28, 1989, the Faculty Senate approved for your consideration Resolution #89-3, the Curriculum Committee Report on the February 28, 1989, Senate Agenda which included the Minutes of January 26, 1989, and February 9, 1989. The report was amended as follows: 1) V.A.2.2., the word "Promotion" was added to the last track to read, Worksite Health Promotion, and 2) V.A.2.3., Second Major, was deleted from the report. Thank you for your consideration of resolution #89-3. Sincerely, Conner Atkeson Chair of the Faculty smb Attachment cc: Vice Chancellor Bloodworth East Carolina University is a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina An Equal Opportunity/A ffirmative Action Employer EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY ee GREENVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA 27858-4353 OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR March 6, 1989 Mr. Conner Atkeson Chair Faculty Senate East Carolina University Dear Chair Atkeson: Resolution #89-3 as adopted by the Faculty Senate at the February 28, 1989 meeting is hereby approved. Sincerely, Laedea Clef, — Richard R. Eakin Chancellor East Carolina University is a constituent institution of The University of North Carolina An Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer