One of the projects slowly making its way up from the back of my mind is our budget. While it's still the beginning of the year, I need to start planning now for major anticipated purchases: namely, library resources, electronic or otherwise.
I've been looking over databases and ebook vendors most of today, and I can't help but wonder how to balance out the fiscal responsibility of resources for our students. We've danced around it for three years. Do we need less print and more online?
I would never suggest eliminating the print budget completely. Print materials are essential to our campus libraries, and as our circulation increases it is obvious that our students value print resources. However, there are many valuable resources that we were unable to purchase last year due to cost. If we cut back our print budgets by 25%, it would save us over 100K a year - enough to purchase 4 or 5 quality databases.
One of your esteemed colleagues suggested to me today that we move our journal collections completely online. We could definitely do this (I think) - that is, we have the technology available to do this, or will with the new catalog. But, do you have enough students who use your print resources to warrant having items in print? Many items, or just some general magazines & your local newspaper?
I know that your responses to the following question will vary campus to campus. I expect some of you could cut back your print budgets to only 20% of this fiscal year's allotment and probably do quite well. So, I ask you: what are your opinions on print & electronic?
-E
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8 comments:
If the databases are going to be our main priority, I think that we need to do something about that web page. The databases look unorganized and jumbled. Don't you think they should be in programmatic or alphabetical order?
That's not a choice I can make. I've asked IT half a dozen times to reorder the list - but I don't have the ability to do. It's in the way they coded the page.
That's one of the reasons we're moving to a new website.
I would go for a print budget cut to increase databases.
Ebsco A to Z would be great!
Literature Resource Center for literary criticism and analysis or something with film and plays would be good for Gen Ed.
I would rather have online resources that students will use than print resources that they are not.
My students rarely use the print journals and magazines. Occasionally an instructor will bring a class in and they will use the journals. Other times I have seen people using the print serials is when they are waiting for someone or waiting for class to start.
I am rather surprised how few students ever take a look at the print journals and magazines we are getting here in Fort Myers. Sad to say but I am starting to think that not too many students would miss them...
The most our print journals get touched here is when Mary is processing them or moving them to be stored at the top of the shelves. I have to say that our local paper does get used quite a bit. Especially by those who are waiting for their son or daughter.
I have taken our print journals with me to classrooms presentations but when students check materials out it is books.
Anything I'd add at this point would be only an echo! I do have a few print serials which get checked out--Time, Newsweek--but the others don't get touched. The local newspaper gets read daily by several people.
Perhaps we could pare down our collections quite a bit and only have one academic journal for each subject area -- at least it would be something for us to point to if someone is looking for a print journal in their subject area. In addition, it's worth thinking about which periodicals are most heavily used, and keeping them. For instance, the Star Tribine is a favorite, as are the Massage magazines.
With that in mind, I would keep our 3 Massage periodicals, and if other instructors ask why Massage has so many print periodicals available, I'll point out that Massage students are the only ones that use print periodicals regularely. This would hammer home the point that certain instructors or disciplines are not requiring the type of research that warrants print periodicals. Hence, instructors would have to recognize the part they play in research and available resources.
Another suggestion... When we're asking our instructors to recommend periodicals, perhaps we could require them to say EXACTLY how they will be used in the classroom. If they can't specify an assignment that requires the use of print resources, then too bad... They have to realize the expense of these items, and the fact that the money could be better spent elsewhere. Maybe a total reevalution and discussion needs to take place between the librarian at each campus and their instructors.
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