Journal Subscriptions/Licenses Guidelines

Acquisition

All requests for new subscriptions/licenses must include a justification of need. Need includes number of faculty who will use this title, potential student use (graduate and/or undergraduate), courses, projects and research this title will support. Need must justify why access through Interlibrary Loan or another document delivery source is inadequate. New subscriptions/licenses will not be purchased for a single faculty member's research interests, nor just because a faculty member publishes in a specific title unless there are special circumstances and additional funding is available.
All requests for new subscriptions/licenses will be evaluated on the importance of the subject area of the subscription/license and whether the subject is a priority for WPI.
All requests for new subscriptions/licenses will be evaluated on the price of the subscription/license and whether Gordon Library can support the subscription/license on a long term basis, given the continuing ten to twenty percent annual increases in costs of periodical subscriptions and licenses.
All requests for new subscriptions/licenses will be evaluated on the availability of the material in full text on the World Wide Web. World Wide Web versions are preferred over print providing that archiving is assured and any license agreement permits downloading and printing of articles and does not restrict access to authorized WPI community members regardless of their location. Licensing agreements which follow the Copyright Fair Use policy are preferred over agreements which prohibit all interlibrary loan sharing.
If the new subscription/license request is approved, is available in electronic format (World Wide Web) and the electronic format is available without the requirement to subscribe to the print version, and the electronic format is either less expensive or marginally more expensive than the print version, then the electronic version will be purchased.
The final determination to purchase new subscriptions/licenses, whether print or electronic, is the responsibility of the Assistant Vice President for Library Services.

Cancellation

Data gathered from Gordon Library's Periodical Use Study are the primary factors determining whether a print subscription should be cancelled.

A print subscription will be canceled if

Cost per use over the period of the use study or, for a newer title over a period of three years, is at an unacceptable level ($200.00 for the 1998/99 academic year).
Fewer than 10 uses over the period of the use study, or for a newer title, over a period of three years.
There is no electronic version tied to the print subscription where the electronic version is being well used.
Title is not part of a package plan where other titles in the plan are well used. Library staff will investigate possibility of canceling package plan and paying separately for individual titles in plan which are well used providing that costs of individual subscriptions are less than cost of package plan.
Cost of equivalent number of articles obtained via Interlibrary Loan or another document delivery service is less than subscription cost and Interlibrary Loan or document delivery service is a viable option (color and clear graphics not absolutely required).
Full text electronic access is available for lower cost without dependency on print subscription and electronic access includes present and future archival access.
Title is not considered vital for accreditation.

An electronic subscription or license will be canceled if

Use is too low. Use is difficult to determine for some electronic titles at present. Gordon Library is dependent upon vendor server statistics for documentation on use. Some vendors have detailed statistics by title. Other vendors have statistics only on the total hits on a group of titles.
Cost of subscription or license is comparatively expensive and use does not warrant the cost.

Publications from Scholarly Societies which support disciplines of importance to WPI faculty and students will be preserved wherever possible.

The final determination to cancel subscriptions/licenses, whether print or electronic, is the responsibility of the Assistant Vice President for Library Services based on the factors outlined above.

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Last modified: Feb 08, 2007, 16:37 EST