Seven Years of Cancellations at Georgia Tech

Abstract

The Georgia Institute of Technology Library has an extensive collection of serials, with emphasis on engineering, science, management, and architecture periodicals. Escalating costs of journal subscriptions combined with chronically inadequate resources budgets necessitated a careful evaluation of the serials collection in the mid 1970s. The F.W. Faxon Company's library information line was used to store evaluative data about each title, and printouts including these data were used to organize titles for evaluation preparatory to cancellation. The completed evaluation was used as the basis for the cancellation of 202 subscriptions in 1976 and 692 subscriptions in 1979. Subsequently, in 1981, an additional 545 subscriptions were cancelled. Ultimately the budget was brought under control at some cost to the quality and extent of the serials collection. In conclusion, the importance of constant collection evaluation is stressed, interlibrary cooperation is urged, and advance planning for large scale subscription cancellations is advised.