Jonathan Nabe

Leaving the “Big Deal”: Consequences and Next Steps

Many libraries are facing difficult fiscal climates with serials inflation, budget cutbacks, and reductions in allocations requiring difficult collection management decisions. Libraries may find their flexibility to plan and react unduly restricted due to being contracted to one or more “Big Deals,” in which they are obligated to buy large, inflexible title lists from big publishers for a set price. This presentation discusses the experience of Southern Illinois University–Carbondale and the University of Oregon in leaving “Big Deals,” provides data on impacts on interlibrary loans, community response, and collection budgets, details the steps required before and after the decision, and describes the benefits that other libraries could achieve by following the example of these two members of the Association of Research Libraries.

Let the Patron Drive: Purchase on Demand of E-books

Purchas on demand is an emerging e-book collection development model that can help academic libraries satisfy their patrons changing needs. In this session, Jonathan Nabe and Andrea Imre of Southern Illinois University Carbondale described their implementation of a purchase-on-demand e-book collection developed on MyiLibrary, with content from Ingrams Coutts Information Service, and then they analyzed the pros and cons of this collection development model. Benefits include lower cost-per-title and higher usage rates; challenges include avoiding duplication of print titles and adapting to restrictions in license agreements.

What's Next for Collection Management and Managers?

There have been considerable changes in publishing and information dissemination over the last decade. However, the structure and process of collection development at many libraries have not kept pace. In 2006, Morris Library at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale (SIUC) undertook a restructuring, in order to address the changing nature of collection development. This resulted in the creation of three new positions, more opportunities for planning and analysis, and new roles for liaisons. While there are drawbacks, the new structure has provided clear benefits, and may serve as a model for other academic libraries.

Are We Spending Too Much on Print STEM Monographs? A Method and Analysis for Improving Monograph Allocations Based on Circulation Statistics

Circulation studies provide evidence of demand for monographs, but it is necessary to determine the goal of any analysis in order to select which statistics will be used. The goal of this analysis was to determine the appropriateness of expenditures on monographs within the STEM fields at Morris Library over a ten year period. Percentage of unique title circulation and average circulation per title are best suited for this purpose. Results show variation among discplines, but overexpenditure in all. Analysis of disciplines can aid in determining appropriate allocations for monographs, and analysis of subdisciplines can aid in targeting monograph acquisitions within any discipline.

Leaving the “Big Deal” … Five Years Later

Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) and the University of Oregon each withdrew from several Big Deals with major commercial journal publishers from 2008 to 2010. Analysis of the impact of these decisions was originally conducted and reported in 2011 and 2012. This article provides updated analysis based on interlibrary loan statistics, financial savings, and impact on the collections. Results show that interlibrary loan of lost content still represents a small fraction of prior use, savings have been considerable, and the libraries have been able to address other needs in their collections because of the decision to withdraw.