ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News • February 2002 / 103 C o l l e g e & R e s e a r c h L i b r a r i e s news How to become a serial killer One approach to the acquisition and retention of periodicals by Faye Christenberry, Judith Emde, Sue Hewitt, Cindy Pierard, and Bradley L. Schaffner “I can’t seem to face up to the facts, I ’m tense and nervous, and I can’t re­ lax … You’re talkin’ a lot, but you’re not sayin’ anything.” — “Psycho Killer,” by The Talking Heads' “…yet they still raise our taxes to loot us … In such painful tormenting con­ ditions shall we simply fold our arms and wait to die? No absolutely not!” — “Letter from Abroad,” by Ho Chi Minh2 Although written tongue-in-cheek, the title of this article articulates a thought that has crossed the minds of most librarians when dealing with journal subscription renewals. The continued rising cost of periodicals, com­ bined with acquisition budgets that are static or barely keeping pace with inflation, have created a situation in which many academic and research libraries must cancel serials on a regular basis to stay within their allocated budgets.3 The situation at the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries is no exception. Many subject specialists at the KU Librar­ ies have been forced to cancel periodical titles regularly to ensure that money is available to pay for the remaining titles and to maintain a small fund for the purchase of monographs that are not acquired through approval plans. Serial-dependent disciplines, especially those in the sciences, have been most affected by dramatic increases in subscription costs. Un­ fortunately, it appears that the process of trim­ ming serial titles will become a standard pro­ cedure of the libraries’ annual budget alloca­ tion process. Serial acquisition and retention guidelines In recognition of this situation, members of the Collection Management Council (CMC), working with the assistant dean for scholarly communication, recommended that the KU Libraries develop guidelines to assist subject specialists in making periodical acquisition and retention decisions. The KU Libraries are very fortunate that Uni­ versity Provost David Shulenburger is a lead­ ing proponent in national discussions concern­ ing the current challenges facing scholarly com­ munication.'* The CMC determined that any serial acquisition and retention guidelines de­ veloped for the libraries must transcend the usual discussions of cost versus use, quality of content, specific information needs of the in­ stitution, etc., and also reflect an in-depth in­ vestigation into the problems plaguing the scholarly communication arena. The decisions made by librarians to pay for or cancel individual journal titles (or por­ tions thereof) will determine the future cost of information. If we support high-price/high- inflation journals through our subscription and document delivery decisions, we can only expect to see continued high prices, high in- About the authors Faye Christenberry is reference librarian, Judith Emde is a science librarian, Sue H ew itt is library report manager, Cindy Pierard is instruction coordinator, and Bradley L. Schaffner is a Slavic Studies librarian a t the University o f Kansas, e-mail: fchristenberry@ku.edu, jemde@ku.edu, shewitt@ku.edu, cpierard@ku.edu, bschaffn@ku.edu mailto:fchristenberry@ku.edu mailto:jemde@ku.edu mailto:shewitt@ku.edu mailto:cpierard@ku.edu mailto:bschaffn@ku.edu 104 / C&RL N ews ■ Feb ruary 2002 If w e su p p o rt high-price/high- in flatio n jo u rn a ls th ro u g h o u r su b scrip tio n an d d o cu m en t d e liv e ry d e cisio n s, w e can o n ly e xp ect to see co n tin u ed high prices, high in fla tio n , and an n u al jo u rn a l c an cella tio n s. flation, and annual journal cancellations. While serial cancellations will suffice in the short term, they do not solve the cost crisis in scholarly communication. The only long-term solu tion will b e through a fundam ental change in the way scholars treat their intel­ lectual property to assure that it is dissemi­ nated at the lowest possible cost to the wid­ est relevant audience. O u tlinin g th e issu e s Members o f the CMC concluded that it was essential to create a public document outlin­ ing the issues o f scholarly communication as they relate to periodical literature. This docu­ ment would be available to librarians involved in serial retention projects and to the faculty, students, and other patrons whom the KU Libraries serve. Such a document would help make the serial acquisition and cancellation process more transparent to librarians and patrons alike. The CMC commissioned a task force to com plete this charge. The resulting document consists of three parts, each specifically designed to comple­ ment, yet function independently of, one an­ other. The first section entitled “The University o f Kansas Libraries Serials Manifesto” outlines the challenges that libraries and universities now face regarding the scholarly communica­ tion crisis. Because its purpose is to provide faculty and students with an overview o f is­ sues pertaining to scholarly communication, hyperlinks are provided to key resources that discuss these issues in more detail. Some o f these resources include David Shulenburger’s “Moving with Dispatch to Re­ solve the Scholarly Communication Crisis: From Here to Near, O ctober 16, 1998”5 and Martha Kyrillidou’s “Journal Costs: Current Trends & Future Scenarios for 2020.”s The “Serials Manifesto” also provides links to initiatives designed to promote and im­ prove new methods o f scholarly communi­ cation, including BioOne,7 The Scholarly Pub­ lishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) ‚” and the ARL/ACRL/SPARC partner­ ship, Create Change.9 The second section of the document, “Con­ siderations for Journal Acquisition and Re­ tention: Cost, Quality, and Related Factors,” provides a more in-depth examination o f the cost crisis in scholarly communication and introduces related questions that should be considered in serial acquisition and cancella­ tion decisions.10 Specific questions include: • What weight should be given to the price history o f a title? • Under what conditions should the li­ braries give preference in their subscription choices to publications o f scholarly societies or university presses? • If a strategic competitor were published under the sponsorship of SPARC or a similar alliance, what circumstances would justify retention o f the original, for-profit title? Although the decision to acquire, retain, or cancel a serial title cannot be based solely on subscription costs, skyrocketing increases in the price of many academic journals is a pri­ mary indicator that the current scholarly com­ munication model does not work as effectively as it should.11 “Considerations for Journal Ac­ quisition and Retention” and the “Serials Mani­ festo” are available to the public on the Uni­ versity o f Kansas Libraries’ Web site. The final section of the document is a serial acquisition and retention checklist, which in­ cludes references to reports made available to KU subject specialists. There was no consen­ sus as to whether this section o f the document should be placed on a public Web site. Issues were raised about the value o f providing de­ tailed information that would not make sense to the nonspecialist. Also, many teaching fac­ ulty members are already inundated with in­ formation regarding serials retention, and this list could potentially confuse the issue further. The advantage o f placing the list on a pub­ licly accessible Web site is that the checklist clearly illustrates the decision-making process involved in the acquisition and retention of serial titles. The task force recommended to the assistant dean for scholarly communica­ tion that this section be placed on the librar­ C&RL N ews ■ Feb ruary 2002 / 105 ies’ staff Intranet with the understanding that subject specialists would be free to distribute the checklist to interested parties. This sec­ tion concludes with a list of reports that are available to assist subject specialists in their decision-making process.12 Conclusion This article provides an overview of the is­ sues that academic and research libraries now face regarding scholarly communication and shares one library’s approach to incorporat­ ing consideration of these issues into daily practices regarding journal acquisitions and cancellations. The document does not pro­ vide any major new breakthroughs regarding the scholarly communication crisis. However, it does offer a succinct summary of the issues for the nonspecialist, and it marks an impor­ tant step towards providing a systematic, trans­ parent approach for the acquisition and re­ tention o f periodicals at the KU Libraries. By making this information publicly ac­ cessible, it is the authors’ belief that this docu­ ment will help library staff and users to make more informed decisions when selecting titles and to raise awareness o f the need to iden­ tify and pursue alternatives to the current publishing model when available. Notes 1. David Byrne, et al, “Psycho Killer” on Stop M aking Sense, Talking Heads (New York: Sire, 1984). 2. Robert Templer, S hadow s a n d Wind: A View o f M odern Vietnam (New York: Pen­ guin Putnam, Inc., 1998): 96. 3. Jo se p h J . Branin and Mary M. Case, “Reforming Scholarly Publishing in the Sci­ ences: A Librarian P erspective,” N otices o f t h e A m e r i c a n M a t h e m a t i c a l S o c ie t y 45 (April 1998): 477. Also available at http:// www. ams. org/notices/199804/branin. pdf. [PDF File], Although focused on scientific publishing, the article provides an e x ce l­ lent overview o f the issues o f scholarly com munication. 4. Some of David Shulenburger’s presenta­ tions on scholarly communication include “The Faculty/Staff Convocation Speech 1997,” on the W eb at http://w w w .ku.edu/~provost/ convocation97.shtml and “Moving with Dis­ patch to Resolve the Scholarly Communication Crisis: From Here to Near,” presented October 16,1998, available at http://www.ku.edu/~pro- vost/arl.shtml. 5. http://www.ku.edu/~provost/arl.shtml. 6. http://www.arl.org/newsltr/210/costs.html. 7. http://www.bioone.org. 8. http://www.arl.org/sparc. 9. http://www.createchange.org. 10. A number o f institutions and libraries have conducted price studies of journals. The Association o f Research Libraries has com­ piled an excellent group o f these reports at http://www. arl .org/scomm/resources. html. 11. For data on collection budgets and how they are being affected (serial cancellations information, ration o f budget going to seri­ als/monographs), see: Robert Sewell, Library M aterials B u d g et Survey, 1 9 9 9 -2 0 0 0 , avail­ able at http://www.arl.org/scomm/lmbs/ lmbs2000.html. Also see: Martha Kyrillidou, “Research Library Spending on Electronic Scholarly Information is on the Rise.” ARL B i- M on thly Report. 213, available at http:// www.arl.org/newsltr/213/spend.html. 12. The University of Kansas Libraries document is available on the Web at http:// www2. lib.ukans. edu/scholcomm/sercanO 1/ Sertskfc.htm. ■ http://www.ku.edu/~provost/ http://www.ku.edu/~pro- http://www.ku.edu/~provost/arl.shtml http://www.arl.org/newsltr/210/costs.html http://www.bioone.org http://www.arl.org/sparc http://www.createchange.org http://www http://www.arl.org/scomm/lmbs/ http://www.arl.org/newsltr/213/spend.html