The cost-effectiveness of serial exchanges at the University of Florida library

Abstract

Overall, the University of Florida Library's exchange program is cost-effective, even with the relatively high cost of staff salaries and barter subscriptions. The exchange program is responsible for acquiring well over $40,000 worth of serials for the library each year, many of which are still not available through regular subscription agents. Meanwhile, this cost-effectiveness study not only provided an excellent method for determining the relative dollar value of the University of Florida's exchange program, it also helped to greatly improve the efficiency of the program. While reviewing the entire exchange program during the course of this project, procedures were examined and ultimately streamlined and enhanced. And though the exchange program requires constant attention to remain cost-effective, new reports and indexes created using Fox-PRO have improved the productivity and speed of our entire operation.This study shows that the future of the University of Florida Library's exchange program remains bright. Not only did this year-long project essentially prove that the program was cost-effective, it indicated that many of the journals received on exchange were valuable to the collection.An important intangible of the exchange program is the opportunity for the library to promote its own name and that of the University. The University of Florida Library's exchange program currently has 605 partner institutions in the U.S. and around the world, reflecting positively on the University of Florida Library as an academic research center.In a decade of downsizing and tight budgets for most academic libraries, an exchange program needs strong support from collection management, technical services, and library administration. To keep this support, a program must be cost-effective and efficiently run. Therefore, cost-effectiveness studies are essential to the success of exchange programs. And although conducting a comprehensive study of this nature requires a large effort by the exchange staff, we believe that it will be time well spent.