Serials Review and Reduction Project 2009/2010

"Because of the current economic climate, libraries across the state of North Carolina and the whole country have had to reduce their expenditures on purchased materials, whether they are one-time purchases such as books and DVDs or continuing subscriptions, such as journals, magazines, newspapers, and databases.

Inflation accounts for a large proportion of the cost of subscriptions. The library [at the University of North Carolina Wilmington] spent almost $2,000,000 on subscriptions to print and electronic resources during the 2008/2009 FY, and with a predicted inflation rate of 8-9%, we need additional funding of $145,560 to $163,755 to maintain the subscriptions we currently have in FY 2009/2010. Unfortunately, the North Carolina General Assembly cut its usual funding for library materials inflation in the 2009-2011 budget.  The library’s materials budget for FY 2009/2010 does not include inflation. In addition, we had a significant budget shortfall last fiscal year that we were able to work around by delaying payments, but these payments have come due during this fiscal year. We have already cancelled some low use or duplicate titles, as you will see in the list of cancelled titles linked on the left side of the page, but we need to make further cancellations to stay within our budget.

In sum, the library’s budget has not received sufficient funds to support the level of subscriptions that we previously held. We are unable to take on new subscriptions, and we need to cancel some of our current subscriptions. As mentioned, our library is not alone in this predicament; see the link on the left to serials review and reduction projects at other universities...."