University of Maryland Libraries Collections Strategies and Services
December 2017
During the 2016 serials review process, subject librarians in Collection Development identified potential cancelations at levels of 3%, 5% and 8% of the total collections budget. Many of the titles identified for cancellation at that time were in so-called “big deals” Our contracts with the vendors of these packages do not permit us to cancel titles. Therefore, in FY17 we canceled all titles identified at 8% that were not part of a big deal.
At the time of that review, we indicated we would employ our analysis of big deal titles identified for cancelation in future budget adjustments. The University of Maryland Libraries continues to face a flat budget and significant serials inflation. Despite canceling 425 journal subscription titles as a result of the 2016 review, it is necessary for the Libraries to cancel a “big deal” package in order to avoid a projected deficit of between $500,000 and $800,000 in the current fiscal year. The package identified for cancelation is Taylor and Francis. A very small subset of current subscriptions will be maintained in order to meet programmatic and accreditation needs. A list of Taylor and Francis continuing subscribed titles is available online.
Note: The University of Maryland Libraries have extensive lending and borrowing partnerships with institutions around the world. These enable us to provide users with information beyond our current holdings. Nearly all content canceled as part of the 2016 serials review and subsequent cancelation of the Taylor and Francis package is available through Interlibrary Loan services such as UBorrow, Scan & Deliver, and the Big 10 Academic Alliance Shared Print Repository.
Please let me know if you have any questions, and please contact the relevant subject specialist (http://www.lib.umd.edu/directory/specialists) or me directly at dmack@umd.edu about specific aspects of the project.
Sincerely,
Daniel C. Mack
Associate Dean, Collection Strategies and Services
University of Maryland Libraries
We value your comments and will do our best to answer your questions. Please send feedback to the relevant subject librarian (you can find a list at http://www.lib.umd.edu/directory/specialists) or to Daniel Mack, Associate Dean, Collection Strategies and Services, at dmack@umd.edu.
