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Those who wander down to the second floor of the Dimond Library may soon begin to notice the selection of print journals is decreasing on the shelves.
The reason for the cancellations of journals is simple. It is because of inflation, according to Judith Brink, head of collection development at the Dimond Library. Brink said that the journal market is under stress because they are trying to provide information electronically as well as by print.
The inflation of the price of journals domestically has been 10 percent while the foreign inflation of journals has been 15 percent. The average equaling 11 percent inflation in journals, said Claudia J. Morner, Ph.D., the University librarian of the Dimond Library. The problem begins with the fact that the library budget for fiscal year 2004 (a fiscal year begins July 1and ends June 30) was $14,137,246 million while the budget for fiscal year 2005 is $14,618,696 million, which creates an increase of three percent. This means that the journals are inflating faster than the libraries budget, according to Morner.
About $3.2 million out of about $5.1 million for use on all the collections such as books, Compact Discs, etc., was spent this fiscal year, Morner said. The rest of the budget goes for things like salaries, fringe benefits and almost more than four million dollars pays to keep up the facility, she said.
The way that this problem is to be handled is "to look at the collection and to see if it is meeting the needs of the students and the faculty," Morner said.
UNH is not the only school going through this. Most schools have been cutting journals, Morner said.
"There isn't a library in this area or country that hasn't done it or is going to," Brink said. She also said that a lot more information is being published and areas are breaking off, creating more information.
The canceling of the journals will be a three-year process, Morner said. This year they are only doing part of the collection, and after three years, will have done all the departments. The plan is to review every program in every department then get program reviews from the departments themselves, as well as experts, then look at the collections and evaluate them based on the information they have received according to Morner.
Another way to determine whether a journal is to be cancelled is how much use it gets. The circulation of journals can indicate how much it has been used, said Brink. They count circulation anytime a journal is off the shelf, which also counts when being used for photocopies as well as being read in the library. If the journal is put back in the same place then they will not be able to tell if it is used, but when they find it out of place, it counts as a use.
It is also planned to look at certain publishers who have many titles being used by the library and see how they are being used. One publisher that the library has many titles from, about $950,000 worth, is Elsevier, said Brink.
Other criteria that is being used in determining what to cut is the cost per use of the journals, said Morner.
Even though there may no longer be print versions of journals, it doesn't mean that they will be unattainable. Databases such as Project Muse and BioOne will still have the full-text of some of the cancelled journals, said Brink. These can be found through the Dimond Library Web site, www.library.unh.edu and under research tools. This will allow students and teachers to be able to still get the full-text in electronic but not in print form.
Since August of 2004, the library has been using Infotrieve. Faculty and graduate students have been able to use this program that allows one to request an article, said Brink. Infotrieve hasn't been accessible to undergraduate students yet, because they didn't know how much it was going to cost, Brink said. Infotrieve allows someone to order an article that they need instead of the whole journal. The article is then delivered to the person's desktop, he said. It doesn't cost anything to the person who orders the article, said Brink, but the charges go to the University instead.
There are around 6,000 periodicals at the library and on the databases where you can buy articles there are 58,000 periodicals, Morner said.
Interlibrary Loan is another way to get what might not be available at the Dimond Library. This still costs the University money, but it can be helpful because it can provide information in areas that Dimond Library doesn't get, Brink said. This program allows students to get books from other schools. An example Brink gave was that there is a nursing program at UNH but not a medical program so there is not as much medical information.
The process of canceling journals has not happened at UNH for a long time. Brink said that UNH "hasn't had a journal cancellation process in 10 years." Brink also said that the collection of journals cannot remain stable because it has to reflect what is happening on campus. He said that they are "trying to meet the needs of the students and faculty."
Even though the number of journals that are on the shelf may be cut, said Brink, "we are trying to provide alternative methods of access and delivery with services like Infotrieve and Interlibrary Loan."
Morner said that most people think it is a rational process and that the best approach to the problem was chosen.
No journals have been cut yet, Morner said. Morner said that spreadsheets were sent out to every department that they are reviewing this year about the journal cancellations on March 1, and those who it was sent out to have until May 1 to reply. The cancellation notice must be sent out in August, and the journals will be canceled as of January.
"If a journal is not being used which can be tracked, the Library then should discontinue purchasing it," Raymond J. Goodman, Jr., chair and professor of hospitality management, said. "In general, I think it is important to include the Library and continue to update the journal lists."
Janet Aikins, professor of English and chair of the English department, said about the process, "that we are very well aware that the Dimond Library is very seriously under-funded, and the University needs to address this problem aggressively. However, it remains true that in some disciplines the purchase of journals in hard-copy format remains essential, this is especially true now that we have become a Research One institution."
According to Aikins, the Carnegie Foundation ranks a school a Research One institution when there is a strong expectation for high levels of research along with scholarly productivity in addition to excellent teaching.
"We need to continue to build the strong collection of books and journals at Dimond Library to remain competitive with out peer institutions," Aikins said. "We in English are likely to support the cancellation of some journals that indeed are online, however there are others for which hard-copy subscriptions need to continue."
Students can receive more information on the journals as well as make their own comments on the Web site, www.library.unh.edu/news/journals/letter.shtml.
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