Collection News and Updates: Home

Subscription costs continue to rise steadily and consume a greater percentage of the library's collection budget each year. Many libraries struggle with unaffordable and unsustainable journal subscriptions and have made similiarly difficult choices, including UNC Chapel Hill and the University of California System.

The Collections Advisory Committee has identified two journal package subscriptions to cancel in response to our budget shortfall and subscription inflation.  These are:

• SAGE Journals
• Springer Journals

Our cancellation of these packages does not automatically mean lost access to a particular journal. Some journals in these packages have alternative access available through one of our other electronic resources. However, there may be embargoes (i.e., current content withheld) on this content. Embargo lengths may vary from 6 months to 6 years.

Concerns or questions regarding access to a particular journal may be shared with your subject liaison, who will share these with the Collections Advisory Committee.  Full title lists for each publisher are below.

These products were identified for the following reasons:

• Cancelling these packages avoids singling out specific colleges or programs. Cuts are not concentrated in one college or program area but distributed more equally across the university.
• We already have robust, permanent SAGE holdings that are not dependent on subscriptions. This should reduce the impact of cancelling the SAGE subscription.
  • We purchased deep back files from SAGE, which runs from Volume 1 through 1998.
  • Our current journal package subscription gives perpetual access to content from 2010-2020. Even after we cancel the subscription, we will retain access to content from these years.
• Titles in SAGE and Springer are readily obtainable through interlibrary loan or pay-per-view.
• In previous reviews, databases were targeted for reductions. Many remaining databases have content not necessarily obtainable through interlibrary loan.
• Some journal packages are ineligible for cancellation due to accreditation requirements of agencies such as the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) and the American Chemical Society (ACS).
• Previous cuts already eliminated titles of secondary importance and/or low use. Due to the size of the required cut and the limited options to achieve that, cuts to large e-journal packages are necessary.
• In addition to cutting the SAGE and Springer packages, we cut funds from monographs. This distributes cuts across the entire collections budget.

We have set aside funds to subscribe to individual SAGE and Springer titles by request. Requests will be considered with the following criteria in mind:

Access to content can be provided through interlibrary loan or other means when a subscription request is not approved. Requests for journal subscriptions may be sent to your subject liaison or via the feedback form linked below. Submit requests by September 30, 2020 for full consideration. We will do a second round of review at the end of February.

If you have questions regarding the library's cancellation process or alternative modes of accessing materials, please contact your subject liaison.

Every three years, NC LIVE reviews statewide resources, analyzes usage trends, and reviews feedback from libraries to decide which resources to renew, add, or cancel. More information is available from NC LIVE.