How we cancelled a large chemistry journal package,involved faculty in the decision making process, and one year later look back to find some issues we did not anticipate. In 2016, faced with an unsustainable 24% price increase over three years, the University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries cancelled a large chemistry journal package. The Libraries ending up subscribing to a few individual titles with input from faculty and moved to a just in time model for the remainder of the package content relying heavily upon interlibrary loan services. One year out we look back upon the cancellation project, how we got here, review usage and interlibrary loan statistics, calculate cost savings, and find some interesting trends we did not expect concerning faculty requesting behavior. All this leaves us wondering: 1) what hidden stories the statistics do not tell 2) if this just in time model is truly serving faculty needs and 3) if it is possible to change faculty requesting behavior to make this model work better to fit their research habits. We will also include feedback from faculty regarding some of their questions and concerns.

From just in case to just in time – just maybe not

256th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.