Marilyn Carney
Serials Librarian
Wake Technical Community College
mmcarney@waketech.edu
Phone 919-212-3836
Community College
Libraries: How far do we
need to go?
Print periodicals
versus
Electronic periodicals
Introduction
The purpose of this presentation is to discuss
and hopefully resolve some of the issues
facing community college libraries confronted
with changing from print serials to electronic
serials format. I hope together we can create
some discussion and perhaps establish some
guidelines which will be useful for future
consideration when making these format
changes.
In the beginning
Puzzled!!!!!
When I came to Wake Tech in
2004 and began working with
serials, I had no idea how
involved serials maintenance
would become. I had not taken
classes specifically on serials in
grad school, therefore I had no
knowledge of how to select and
order serials or how to handle
serials budgets or how to make
the most use of budget funds.
Preparation
We knew we would need to:
 Consider cost.
 Get faculty input.
 Talked with fellow librarians who had knowledge of the desires of
some of our faculty.
 Be observant and mindful of the need for core curriculum resources.
 Make sure that the college administration was behind us.
We decided that the best time to start making the biggest and most
changes to our collection was when our journal order was scheduled
for renewal. It is also during renewal time that we gathered up all of
the new journal requests we’d received during the year from faculty,
staff and students.
What we did – how – why
There are several questions we had to consider such as:
•How do you involve or inform faculty.
•How will/has faculty reacted to the format changes?
•Should leisure reading (i.e. People, Newsweek, etc) magazines
be eliminated fully or partially.
•What criteria should you use to bring about periodical format
changes.
•Will your library attendance be affected?
I conducted a survey of North Carolina Community Colleges to
see how they answered some of these questions.
Survey input
Here are some of the survey answers:
 In order to inform faculty of the periodical format changes, most
respondents said that they sent emails and/or met with faculty at
meetings and,
 when asked how their faculty felt about the changing format most
respondents said that their faculty did not particularly care one
way or another about the format changes.
 Several respondents thought that attendance would decrease if a
college converts strictly to electronic resources but more thought
that it would remain about the same. A few felt that attendance
would increase.
 When asked if leisure magazines should be eliminated, the
overwhelming response was “no”.
Number 1 criteria
 The overwhelming criteria most survey
respondents used to determine which print
titles would be discontinued was lack of use.
The following are some of the
criteria we used:
 Eliminate titles found in other formats (i.e. databases)*
 Do not eliminate recent print requests (example: Addiction
Professional)*
 Do not eliminate routed titles*
 Eliminate titles that are rarely used and/or are not vital to curriculums
 Eliminate titles that were requested by an individual who has left the
college.
 Eliminate some subscriptions that had difficulty with publishing
(Example: Pre-hospital Emergency Care).
* exceptions
Seton Hall University study
From an article in Library Collections, Acquisitions & Technical Services 2002
To eliminate overlap between print and electronic titles whereby the
transition to full-text without the paper subscription would not
compromise the quality of the serials collection.
Seton Hall University’s plan contained
5 factors
The university library acquired access to several aggregated databases that provided
broad subject coverage in many academic disciplines.
The university libraries tracks the electronic titles contained in and among its
aggregated databases.
The university community has accepted e-resources and 24/7 anywhere anytime
access as a major source of information.
Through meetings, email and face to face exchanges, the university libraries
administration informed classroom faculty and faculty governance committees about the
unnecessary costly duplication between print and electronic resources and it provided
reliable information about the potential cost savings of eliminating this overlap and also
presented the concept of electronic resources increasingly serving as the backbone of
the journal collection.
Adequate preparation time for the transition.
The following is how Wake Tech libraries fit into the
5 factors of the Seton Hall plan.
The university library acquired access to several aggregated
databases that provided broad subject coverage in many academic
disciplines.
Wake Tech libraries has taken this approach as well, we have access to
not only NC LIVE and SIRS, but ScienceDirect, History Study
Center and JSTOR among others.
1.
The university libraries tracks the electronic titles contained in and
among its aggregated databases.
Through the library homepage Wake Tech libraries are able to access
the desired database and in most instances obtain the list of titles
currently available. But, we are not tracking the titles.
2.
 Title List
 Full-Text Journal Titles: Search for Full-Text Publications | All
titles - January 2007
 History Study Center Contents
 Title List
 Sourcebook details - for reference articles, maps and historical
documents
 Journal details
The Seton Hall University plan (continued)
The university community has accepted e-resources and 24/7 anywhere
anytime access as a major source of information.
Wake Tech students/faculty are able to access NC LIVE, SIRS and History Study
Center remotely 24/7 by use of a password.
3.
Through meetings, email and face to face exchanges, the university libraries
administration informed classroom faculty and faculty governance committees
about the unnecessary costly duplication between print and electronic
resources and it provided reliable information about the potential cost savings
of eliminating this overlap and also presented the concept of electronic
resources increasingly serving as the backbone of the journal collection.
Wake Tech’s library director has communicated with faculty and administration
about resource duplications and the need for cost effectiveness. We have
contacted faculty by email and face to face to inform them of the usefulness of
e-resources and the college’s plan to increase its e-resource collections.
We informed them that the move from print periodicals to electronic will not only be
a financial asset for the libraries but will also be an additional learning tool for
distance education students.
4.
An example of the letter sent to some faculty
members via email informing them of the serials
format changes
Faculty/staff
In our efforts to stay abreast of current technology and make the most of our commitment to offer the best
resources to our students, faculty and staff, the Wake Tech libraries are decreasing our collection of print
journals. Many journals that we currently order in print are also available in electronic form. We are
striving to use our budget funds to its fullest extent by providing the most updated electronic resources.
The journal that is currently routed to you, PUT TITLE HERE, is available in full-text on NC LIVE. We will be
discontinuing our subscription to the print version starting in January 2007, but the electronic journal is
available to you via NC LIVE.
Here is how to get to your journal:
On campus - Type http://library.waketech.edu. or from the Wake Tech homepage click on "Student Resources"
-----> Libraries --------> NC LIVE --------> Welcome to NC LIVE (go to bottom of page see "Need a specific
title?", click on it) ----------> type in JOURNAL TITLE.
Off campus - Type http://library.waketech.edu. -------> NC LIVE --------- put in school affiliation and NC LIVE
password when asked --------. Welcome to NC LIVE (go to bottom of page see "Need a specific title?"
click on it) ----------> type in JOURNAL TITLE.
.
If you have any questions please contact me.
The Seton Hall University plan (continued)
5.
Adequate preparation time for the transition.
Wake Tech libraries started preparing for the transition from print to
electronic resources more than two years before making the
actual move in that direction. We had already purchased
access to NC LIVE and SIRS.
We started the ground work by examining our journals list to see
which titles could be removed. We included the elimination of
most of the leisure journals. When print renewal orders were
placed, our plan (such as it was) for print elimination went into
effect.
More survey responses
 The final question of my survey was an inquiry of what
determines which electronic resources the community colleges
purchased. This resulted in two answers that stood out the most
and they are 1. cost considerations and 2. resources picked
because of curriculum needs.
 These responses take us back to the initial reasons for our
discussion of converting to electronic resources. Costs, again,
being the major determining factor causing us to make the
changes in formats along with the need to have the resources
that are relevant to the curriculums. Remote access and ease
of searches were also highly regarded as being determining
factors.
Survey conclusions
 My conclusions are that community colleges are following the
trend of the larger colleges and universities in that they are
turning more and more to electronic resources.
Their reasons are the same as the big schools but on a smaller
scale. They want to make access easily available, they want to
be cost effective, and they want to provide titles that are needed
for their curriculums.
There is not much written information available to use as guidelines
for changing periodical formats in the community college setting.
Each community college has to create their own criteria as they
go along. The information that is available, although applicable
to 4-year colleges and universities, may be useful for our needs
as well.
Related articles
William H. Wisner, reference librarian at Laredo Community College in Texas
is a real skeptic of this move toward electronic resources.
From his article – Now, We’re Just Like Them -- in Library Journal, August
2006, he says “Today, the ….. book, with which libraries as we know them
began, is the only thing that still makes the continuing existence of
libraries necessary. Everything else can already be accessed from home,
from journal retrieval to paying fines.”
“The corporate suits with their neat haircuts welcomed us (I assume here he is
referring to the companies that entice us to buy the aggregated databases).
They offered us calendars and tote bags and beguiled us from our dignity.
Now, you’re just like us, they all said.”
Mr. Wisner seems to think that we are all being pulled blindly into using
electronic resources by the powers that be to the detriment of the library
as a whole. And by accepting this trend we are doing just what they want
or, as he puts it, becoming “just like them”.
Related articles continued
Also, from an article in Inside Higher Education, the author writes:
“For most scholarly journals, the transition away from the print
format and to an exclusive reliance on the electronic seems all
but inevitable.” “But this shift away from print , in the absence of
strategic planning by a higher proportion of libraries …. , may
endanger the viability of certain journals and even the journal
literature more broadly ----- while not even reducing costs in the
ways that have been assumed.”
Again this author sees the writing on the wall but warns us to be
careful not to be drawn in by all that we can gain by converting
to electronic without having a plan and knowing the
consequences.
Related articles continued
At Richland College in Dallas, Sharlee Jeser-Skaggs, head of
reference says “Print is holding its own”. However, “When it
comes to periodical access electronic is the overwhelming
choice”. She adds, “A small community college library like
Richland’s might be able to afford 250-300 subscriptions per
year. But through our databases we can provide thousands and
thousands of titles”. Richland is part of a consortium of seven
Dallas-area colleges.
Richland sees that by being part of a consortium, they are able to
provide access to many more journals than they could if they
existed alone and only subscribed to print journals.
(From Library Journal November 2005)
Finally……some guidelines
From an article in Library Collections, Acquisitions & Technical Services
2002, we get a list of criteria for canceling print serials in favor of
electronic from the University of Oklahoma that, if modified, could
serve as guidelines for eliminating print serials in community
colleges library collections.
Here is some of their list:
 Provider reliability/stability – Is the electronic provider sufficiently
reliable and stable?
 Discipline/curriculum/research importance – Is the title significant to
users?
 Faculty input – Consult faculty on change of format.
 Institutional commitment – Determine the significance of the title to
the library.
guidelines continued

Subject – Find out if subject requires retention of print in addition to electronic.

User preference/usage – Do users display a format preference and is that a
concern.

Reproduction capability – Determine if the library/user can reproduce articles in
a manner approximating the original when necessary.

Authentication – Must users be “authorized” with access being limited to IP
recognition or username and password?

Monetary savings – Examine the actual cost of canceling print in favor of
electronic.

Space limitations – Ascertain the space saved if print is cancelled.
The list created by the University of Oklahoma libraries seems a good place to start
in the development our own individual community college guidelines. It
encompasses much that should be considered in formulating a guide for
eliminating print titles in favor of electronic.
A word of caution
In an article from Library Collections, Acquisitions & Technical Services 2002, based
on the case study done at Seton Hall University libraries, discussion is raised
about two developments driving academic libraries to analyze their serials
collections. Diminishing funds and the availability of full-text electronic
databases that span a wide array of subjects.
But with this ever increasing popularity of electronic full-text capability is the
realization that there are several shortcomings to consider.
Such as:
•
the withdrawal of a title from the electronic resource without notification to the
vendor or the client --- remember the online content is rented not owned.
•
the library runs the risk of losing access while at the same time accepting titles
as part of a bundled package that may not be useful to the library’s patrons.
•
some have observed omissions in e-journals that could compromise the quality
of article content.
It is advised that librarians become educated consumers of full-text databases,
particularly if we are going to be substituting electronic resources for print
subscriptions.
and in conclusion……….
The move from print to electronic periodicals can be beneficial to the
community college libraries as well as the college community, the
distance education students and any others seeking to do
research. Students who can not get to campus libraries can
access most of the libraries’ databases remotely.
We’ve learned that when converting from print to electronic, we
should have a documented guide before proceeding. We should
make sure we are making the best use of our budget dollars, be
aware of archival information concerns, examine the stability of
the databases we are purchasing and be mindful of the
consistency of the content coverage in the databases.
If we can take these factors into consideration our transition from
print resources to electronic should be less difficult.