The UMass Amherst libraries are undertaking a review of journal subscriptions that cost $1000 or more per year yet receive very little use. We are hoping to redirect the money spent on these journals toward resources that would be more useful to our patrons, such as journal titles that are frequently requested via Interlibrary Loan or other journals and databases that have been requested by our users.
Letters have been sent to the heads of all departments on campus to let them know about this review process, which has been endorsed by the Research Library Council.
It is important to note that this is not a journal cancellation project per se--money saved by cancelling little-used journals will be reallocated to other resources.
See the libraries' recent press release for much more information. Included is the list of journals being considered for cancellation--that is, those titles costing $1000 or more which have received 3 or fewer uses in the past year.
The sciences are quite heavily represented in this list. If you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions, please contact me anytime.
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