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Overview
| Procedure
| Selection
Criteria | Backfiles
| Contingencies
| Continuations
SERIALS
The
Smith College Libraries define serials as those publications, which appear
on a regular basis such as annuals, monthlies, and quarterlies, and have
an annual subscription price. This includes print and electronic resources.
Overview
Serials selection must be a carefully considered activity treated differently
from book selection. Subscriptions represent long-term fiscal, space,
and staff commitments unlike the process of acquiring and processing a
book. Annual price increases for these materials in recent years have
been considerably higher (approximately 10%/year) than for books and have
a dramatic impact on the entire materials budget. To promote fairness
across disciplines, maintain a balance between the serials and monographic
budgets appropriate to each discipline, and plan responsibly for the budget
available in any given year, new serials subscriptions will be considered
once a year.
In
its efforts to maximize both budget and space resources, the Smith College
Libraries do not purchase serials in multiple formats. Electronic format
is generally preferred as it provides the greatest on- and off-campus
access to these resources, is favored by most users, and does not require
shelf space, checking in, and binding. Print format will be selected only
when the online content does not meet the needs of our users, for example,
when important editorial material is omitted or visual materials are poorly
reproduced. To ensure our online serial holdings will remain accessible
in the future, the Smith College Libraries are a member of Portico, a
permanent electronic archive of scholarly journals.
Procedure
Each year in early spring, lists of currently received serials titles
that have been selected by departments will be distributed to those departments
by librarian liaisons. Departments are invited at that time to review
lists. If new serials are desired, departments should consult with their
liaisons to determine what titles of equal or greater value might be canceled
in order to add new titles and to consider the factors noted below.
Selection
Criteria
Some of the factors to consider are:
- relevance
to the curriculum
- relevance
to faculty scholarship
- number/cost
of subscriptions in the field
- level
of scholarship
- issuing
organization's reputation
- accreditation
requirements
- coverage
in indexing and abstracting services
- preservation/retention
considerations
- availability
of the title at other local libraries
- hardware,
software, accessibility, etc. for electronic resources
Backfiles
New subscriptions are generally begun with the next complete volume/year
after selection is made. If backfiles are needed, they may be purchased
with departmental book funds. For extensive backfiles, microform is recommended
if it is available.
Contingencies
If reserve monies in the acquisitions budget are sufficient, the Director
of Libraries will allocate a small amount to address special serials needs.
During the annual serials review, the Libraries will evaluate requests
for this contingency funding based on such priorities as:
- Needs
of newly-hired faculty
- Cost
(i.e., titles that are inexpensive)
- Requests
from departments which have not added new serials in the past three
years
- Conversion
from print to electronic format
- Other
compelling circumstances
On
occasion, the Libraries may authorize reducing departmental monograph
budgets to fund new serials.
CONTINUATIONS
Definition
The Smith College Libraries define continuations as those publications
which are ongoing but which appear irregularly such as monographic series
and sets. They may appear three times in one year and not appear again
for five years. It is difficult to budget for continuations because of
their erratic publication schedule. Because they are not a predictable
annual commitment, they are more closely aligned to the monographic udget.
Procedure
New continuation titles can be requested at any time during the year.
Requests should be sent to librarian liaisons. Departments should be aware
that funds from the annual appropriation for books will be transferred
to accommodate new continuation titles and that book budgets in future
years will reflect these transfers.
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September 4, 2007
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