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Cancellations and Withdrawals

This guide outlines APU Library's necessary cancellation and withdrawal projects.

FAQs

Q: Which departments and programs will be affected?

A: This project will affect all colleges, departments, and programs.

Q: Will each department or program be expected to reduce spending by the same amount?

A: Due to the high cost of some resources, there may be colleges and departments which will temporarily lose some expensive journal packages.

Q: Are other research libraries canceling subscriptions?

A: Yes. The annual increase in inflation and resources is significant.  Within academic libraries, there is an acknowledgment that the fiscal impact of the pandemic will increase the need for a change in the current publishing model.  A shift to Open Access scholarship is necessary for academic libraries to be sustainable.

Q: Will other library subscriptions be canceled?

In addition to all of our individual journal packages, we have cut almost all print journals and a few low-use or expensive databases will be affected.  The hope is to retain as many databases as possible.  Databases provide access to full-text access of journals although not all.

Q:  How will we be able to access full text of articles?

In addition to databases, our interlibrary Loan service will be able to provide access to many materials.  There are limitations and cost implications for requesting many articles per individual journal due to copyright.  This change will have an impact on our budget but the cost is unknown.  These types of cancellations are unprecedented.   

There are also open-access resources such as the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) and institutional repositories which provide some full-text access.  One of the best ways to find those resources is to search Google Scholar through the APU Library "Databases" link.  The results will also link to our library's full-text access.  In addition, please contact us for any additional help.  Librarians are resourceful!  Contact us online through our Ask a Librarian service and we can double-check for full-text access.

How are you determining which titles get canceled?

We have gathered data on thousands and thousands of titles. Our primary criteria are usage numbers and CPU (cost per use.) The cost per use varies widely across titles, with some costing less than $5 and others costing over $1000 for each use. Titles that are not used frequently, can be easily accessed through less expensive means, or are simply too cost prohibitive will be considered for cancellation.

What can an individual faculty member do to help?

There are several ways that the campus community can assist the Libraries in addressing this problem:

  • Work with librarians in your subject areas to identify titles whose cancellation will do the least harm. We need the help of faculty and other informed users to make the best possible decisions under the circumstances.
  • Support efforts by professional associations and other groups to identify sustainable and affordable ways to distribute scholarly information.
  • Consider publisher behavior—especially in terms of pricing—when you are choosing where to publish articles, which editorial boards to serve on, and what you do with your copyright.
  • Consider Publishing Open Access, the library has several Read+Write Agreements with Publishers.
  • Consider adopting Open Educational Resources

Take an interest in the future of publishing and communication within your field. Reduced access to information caused by high prices is a problem faculty can help solve.