Collections

LITS Annual Report  2003-2004

Collection snapshot

Collection Size	1999/2000	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Total Print Collection (in volumes)	697,442	702,0861	717,540	709,6133	717,393
Media Collection	2,543	4,9232	5520	5788	6453
Periodical & Serial Subscriptions	2954	3,201	3403	3564	3599
Budgeted	1999/2000	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Resources Budget	$1,154,500	$1,167,500	$1,367,500	$1,378,000	$1,329,5004
Books	$392,000	$447,000	572,000	480,500	$372,0004
Periodicals & Serials	$682,000	$702,000	772,000	874,000	$874,000
Media Materials	$18,500	$18,500	$23,500	$23,500	$23,500
Expenditures	1999/2000	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04
Resources Budget	$1,170,099	$1,160,380	$1,363,921	$1,373,406	$1,343,0294
Books	$373,866	$394,995	$512,407	$506,815	$395,7885
Periodicals & Serials	$716,106	$741,725	$825,912	$846,940	$923,709
Media Materials	$18,127	$23,660	$25,602	$19,651	$23,532
% Spent on Electronic	10%	11.5%	12%	19%	20%

1 Although we added over 13,000 volumes in 2000/01, this total reflects the subtraction of archival materials previously included in the print collection count.
2  Now reported in volumes instead of titles.
3 Total does not include volumes withdrawn to the Depository.
4  Figure does not include $50,000 transferred from endowed fund.
5 Total includes 3 ebook collections (ebrary, Books 24x&7, Safari) which were charged to the New Initiatives Fund.

Approval plan
In response to the recommendations of the R2 Consultants’ report, we began the process of establishing an approval plan with our new domestic monograph vendor, Midwest. In the fall, we developed a profile for a multidisciplinary university press plan. In the spring, we tested the profile with a slip plan and had hoped to move to a book plan July 1. On the vendor’s recommendation, however, we have delayed the conversion to a book plan until we have more data on our purchasing patterns. We share the vendor’s wish for a successful plan with minimal returns. We hope that after the publishers’ fall lists are available and we have more purchasing data, we will be able to establish and test a book-based plan.

Depository
Periodicals and serials in Economics, History, Psychology and Spanish were transferred to the Depository during the past year. In addition, lists of government publications (international, federal, state and local) were reviewed; low-use titles that have ceased publication or which now have electronic counterparts, were marked for transfer. Lastly, as the Reference and Main collections were reviewed for weeding, a number of serial backfiles, particularly those of former Reference titles, were transferred to the Depository.

Titles sent to depository: 946
Vols. sent to depository: 13,020

This fall, liaisons will work with faculty to review departmental lists of titles added to JSTOR over the past two years.

Electronic resources
In order to give ourselves more flexibility in trying new electronic resources, we established a New Initiatives line in the operating budget. This fund will provide “seed money” for experimenting and testing resources without having to free up funds by making cancellations elsewhere in the first year.
Again this year we increased our offerings of electronic resources. We were able to move from print to online subscriptions for the following tools:

• Columbia Granger’s World of Poetry
• FIAF: International FilmArchive
• IBSS: International Bibliography of the Social Science
• Women’s Studies International (an expended version of Women’s Studies Abstracts)

In addition, we began subscriptions to:

• Accunet/AP Multimedia Archive – International news audio component added
• Cambridge Journals Online: 170 ejournals published by Cambridge University Press
• Classical.com’s Classical Music Library: digitized tracks of over 12,000 classical music recordings
• ebrary: “Academic complete” ebook collection
• EEBO: Early English Books Online
• JSTOR Music Collection: complete backfiles of 32 scholarly journals
• Kluwer Online: over 700 journals published by Kluwer
• LION: Literature Online: 350,000 full-text works of poetry, drama and prose with complementary criticism and reference resources

Periodical review
During the spring semester librarians conducted a review of subscriptions we had not examined in several years: Reference serials, Library science publications, “general” publications duplicated in electronic aggregators, General science periodicals, newspapers, and databases. (In the case of the databases, our goal was less to cancel titles and more to review vendor and consortial options for competitive pricing.) Teams of librarians took responsibility for each category and, after researching options, presented findings to the group. After some revision, the final proposal was shared with faculty and staff. As a result of the review, we canceled approximately 45 Reference serials. In databases, we canceled 2 and moved 7 to a different vendor. (A complete list of the review changes is available here.

The total savings from this review was roughly $30,000.

Summary
Over the past year, we have made good strides in key areas. We have not only added more electronic resources, but in so doing we have added new formats and new content for our community. For example, the content of EEBO has been available in the Five Colleges for many years – on microcard. Now, through our subscription to EEBO, students and faculty have desktop access to 70,000 texts. In the serials review, we challenged ourselves to look carefully at all of our resources, even those we have held for many years. Likewise in our work on the Depository, we have considered alternative forms of access to lesser-used materials; as a result we have sent almost ½ of our Depository quota. In the coming year, we look forward to involving more members of the LITS staff in the collection activities. Their fresh perspectives will surely help us continue to reshape and improve the collections we provide for the MHC community.

Submitted by Kathleen Norton
August 2004