Academic libraries in Iowa cope with serials cutbacks

Abstract

At a time when rising costs of journal subscriptions forced academic libraries in Iowa to scrutinize their continuing obligations more carefully, a group of librarians representing both the publicly and privately supported colleges and universities investigated the impact of their decisions on their aggregate serials holdings. The project was carried out by the Resource Sharing Working Group of the Cooperation Co‐ordinating Committee with the sponsorship of the state's ACRL Chapter. Two surveys collected information directly from the libraries for serials cancelled from July 1989 through June 1992. More than 40 libraries responded; 45 percent responded to both requests for data. Analyzes results of the surveys, revealing cancellations in many disciplines and instances of libraries stopping the same title. The project was an outgrowth of increased attempts to explore the potential for cooperative collection development and resource sharing within Iowa. One benefit of this approach was increased communication among collection development librarians, selectors of materials, and managers of serials collections within the state. Outlines future goals.