Scholarly Communication and Publishing Issues

What Stanford is Doing: Cancellations

Cancellations Projects: Past and Future

Between 1987–2003, Stanford’s Science and Engineering Resource Group (SERG) Libraries cancelled 1,906 titles ($1,373,362) (See Summary Here) (pdf).

In 2004, 264 titles ($399,715) were cancelled and 79 titles ($27,125) were converted from print to electronic-only in order to reduce expenditures. The Science and Engineering Libraries have cancelled 20% of the amount that they spend on journals in the past two years.

List of Cancelled Titles

Cancelled titles in Stanford’s Science & Engineering Libraries
(Tip: make page setup “landscape” when printing lists/data):

• Serials Canceled FY 2004 (Effective Jan. 2005)
• Serials Canceled FY 2003 (Effective Jan. 2004)
• Wiley Duplicate Journals Canceled FY 2002 (Effective Jan. 2003)
• Elsevier Serials Canceled FY 2000 (Effective Jan. 2001)
• Serial Titles Canceled FY 1999 (Effective Jan. 2000)

Guiding Principles

What are the guiding principles behind the serials evaluation? The library represents a shared and public resource for our communities. In making serial decisions, our guiding principles are:

• Support research and teaching by developing and sustaining the best possible collection with available funding.
• Maintain balance among subject areas and between monograph and serial purchases.
• Ability to select individual journals rather than purchasing primarily via packages.
• Archive all print and digital resources acquired by the Libraries.
• Retain financial flexibility for acquiring important new resources when opportunity arises.

Strategies for New Cancellation Projects

While some new titles have been acquired, the number of serial titles received has declined for most of the SERG Libraries (see Table 2). Between 1998-2003, the SERG Libraries experienced:

• Decline in the number of serial titles received (pdf)
• Decline in the total number of print volumes received (gross) (pdf)
• Increased number of interlibrary borrowing requests in Bio & Chem Libraries (pdf)

Strategies for future cancellations include:

• Consult with faculty to identify the highest priorities for collections.
• Eliminate virtually all remaining duplicate print subscriptions.
• Migrate subscriptions from print or print plus online to online only whenever possible.
• Perform cost-benefit analysis for titles, cancel higher cost per use titles and acquire articles on-demand as needed.
• Reduce expenditures on books and other non-serials.
• Cancel unique titles.
• Continue to pursue cooperative agreements that benefit campus.
• Monitor and influence the future of scholarly publishing.