Starting from Scratch: Organizing and Evaluating Your E-Journal Collection

Abstract

The first half of this program will focus on how a library can start organizing their electronic journals. Topics covered will be uncovering which electronic journals you are already paying for, what information you need to maintain a collection, and how to stay organized and on top of changes in your electronic holdings. The focus will be on time saving techniques and how to maintain a collection at little or no cost. This is especially useful for librarians who are new to the e-resources world, do not have the budget or large enough collection for an ERMS, or for libraries that just don't know where to start with electronic journals.

Because e-journal statistics are available in almost as many formats as systems, compiling them can be a nightmare. This second half of this presentation explores this problem and presents a solution for limiting the number of statistics gathered. By identifying the best statistics for collection development, and then getting the collection in shape to gather those statistics, you can make informed decisions about cancellations and format changes in a timely manner. Taking the mystery out of e-journal statistics and untangling the implications of cancellation can be a tough task. What do the liaisons and information resources teams really need to know about the e-journal collection? The presenter will discuss how being involved in the public services side of the library can help inform the statistics gathering process. Finally, a case study of cancellation and format change decisions using streamlined statistics is presented. See how the right statistics and communication with liaisons can make an annual serials review or periodic changes in subscriptions a snap.