Karen A. Schmidt

The serials cancellation crisis: National trends in academic library serial collections

Abstract Domestic serials cancellation and serials holdings records for 3 years (1992–1994) from 10 U.S. academic research libraries were collected and analyzed to describe broad characteristics of domestic serial collections, to determine how recent rounds of serial cancellations have affected academic research collections nationwide, and to identify national trends in serial collections. The data were obtained from the database of The Faxon Company with the permission of the libraries participating in the study. The results confirm the conclusions of previous studies, which determined that academic libraries were cancelling journals unique to their collections and other collections. The cancellation overlap rate continues to document a trend toward maintaining duplicated core serial collections at the expense of peripheral and unique subscriptions. The balance among disciplines has not changed, despite the significant serial cancellations that have taken place over the past several years. Furthermore, in a shift from previous findings, all areas of domestic serials appear to be at risk for cancellation.

Finding the right balance: campus involvement in the collections allocation process

AbstractMany libraries have sought the best approach to allocating the collections budget. “History plus increment” is the standard for many libraries in the allocation of any new dollars to collections budgets. Other libraries have identified factors that help make the process of disbursing new money more objective including counts of faculty and students, literature size and costs, and program changes on campus.The Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is striving toward a more open and understandable allocation process that uses an allocation formula, professional judgment of its librarians, and input from campus faculty and administration. Through this process, we work to achieve balance between formula and professional judgment, between decisions made outside the Library and within the Library, between competing disciplines and old and emerging fields for budget dollars.

The acquisitions process in research libraries: A survey of ARL libraries’ acquisitions departments

In 1985, a survey of acquisitions departments in ARL libraries in the United States and Canada was conducted in order to: (1) describe the basic organizational structures of acquisitions work in large research libraries; (2) investigate the processes included in acquisitions work; (3) discern the level of professional and nonprofessional involvements in various acquisitions tasks, and (4) ascertain salary levels of acquisitions librarians. With a 91% response rate, the survey pointed out, among other things, a high level of professional involvement in non-professional tasks and a marked difference in organizational patterns for handling monographs and serials.

Past perfect, future tense

Abstract Libraries have always been valued for and measured by their collections. The process of collection development has undergone many changes in the past few decades. This article examines those changes while concluding that the core values remain the same.

Reflections of an E-librarian: an interview with Jacob Elterich: september 2059

Entretien imaginaire avec un bibliothecaire de la bibliotheque electronique du Congres, Jacob Eltrich, en septembre 2059. Eltrich est connu pour ses travaux sur les journaux electroniques. Eltrich retrace ici sa carriere et montre les inconvenients des journaux papier et par consequent, les avantages des journaux electroniques, puis decrit sa facon de travailler