1. Making the Impossible Possible: Best
Practices for Running an Effective Annual Serials Review
Kelli Getz
Assistant Head of Acquisitions
University of Houston Libraries

3. Serials Review 2011 Background
• 7+ years Materials Budget
• Overall budget ~$9 million
• Serials over $5 million
• Flat collections budget
• No forced cancellations
Serials
• FTE 40,000 students ($5
44% million)
56% Other
($4
million)

4. Serials breakdown
Serials Titles Received
Purchased electronic
39% serials - 45,190
Purchased print serials
- 1,013
60%
Serials received but not
purchased - 29,100
1%

5. Communication
• Used Intranet site as main
Serials Review hub
• Collaborated with Nancy
• Attended a weekly Liaison
Services meeting
• Presented information at
monthly Collection
Management Committee
meeting
• Held separate Serials
Review meeting for new
selectors
• Created a Serials Review
Blog

7. Timeline – Serials Review 2011
Selectors Acquisitions
September 2010 Create Title List
October 2010 Review List
November/December 2010 Review List Pay 2011 Subscriptions
January 2011 Continue Reviewing List
February 2011 Continue Reviewing List Check to make sure all changes have been
made
March 2011 Review List
April 2011 Review List
May 2011 Review List
June 2011 SR 2011 Ends June 10 Sort SR 2011 Data
July 2011 Sort SR 2011 Data
August 2011 Final SR 2011 Data due to Serials
Subscription Services August 31
Sept. – Dec. 2011 Serials Subscription Services Contact
Publishers; Acq Pays for 2012 subscriptions
January 2012 Check to make sure 2012 changes have been
made

8. Themes
SR 2007 – SR SR 2010 – The SR 2012 – The
SR 2011 – The
2009 - The year of little year of multiple
clean up year
years of plenty change reviews

9. “The List”

10. Running “The List”
• 1). Create list for RLOC = s and • 3). List as below in order:
STATUS not equal z. ▫ a) FUND.
• 2). Sort by FUND, then TITLE. ▫ b) PRIORITY (CODE 3).
▫ c) TITLE.
▫ d) AUTHOR.
▫ e) PUBLISHER.
▫ f) CALL #.
▫ g) E-PRICE.
▫ h) ORDER RECORD #.
▫ i) BIB #.
▫ j) ISSN #.

11. Serials Review Statistics
ILL Statistics Usage and Price Statistics
• Faculty Photocopy Requests • Journal Usage Stats 2009 &
(ILL) 2010 (ER)
• ILL Most Requested Titles • Journals with Zero Usage 2010
(ILL) (ER)
• OCLC’s Top 1,000 Interlibrary • Title Increases Greater Than
Loan Requests 20% for 2010 & 2011 (Acq)

12. Faculty Photocopy Statistics

13. ILL Most Requested Titles

14. Additional Resources
• Links to past Serials Reviews
• Potential Packages
• Cancellation information for large packages
• Video tutorials with handouts
▫ Searching for a journal title in the ILS
▫ How to find usage statistics in the ERM

15. Collecting the Data: Forms

16. Collecting the Data: Email

17. Organizing the Data: Spreadsheets!

18. Making the Impossible Possible: What
your Electronic Resources Librarian can do to help you
Jeannie Castro
Electronic Resources Coordinator
University of Houston

19. How your ER librarian can help
• Collaboration is the key
• Work with Subject Librarian librarians in
providing information
• Flexibility and acceptance of the licensing
timetable

20. Subject Librarian Collaboration
• Certain Subject Librarians asked for assistance
with completing their Serials Review
• Use Stats provided for
▫ Aggregator titles
▫ Subscription titles
• Calculated a cost-per-use based on those stats

21. Subject Librarian Collaboration
• Columns added to Spreadsheet
▫ Print, Print + Online, or Online Only
▫ Platform
▫ 2009 & 2010 COUNTER use statistics
▫ 2009& 2010 Serials Solutions Click Through
Statistics
▫ Cost Per Use for 2010

23. Subject Librarian Collaboration
• For print only resources, checked to see if an
online option was available
• For those titles, a note was made to Kelli to
enquire about moving

24. Serials Librarian Collaboration
• Online option availability
▫ If Kelli found a title that needed to be moved we
used our ERM to send requests
 Premliminary License Request
 Format change OK
 Subscription declined

25. Serials Librarian Collaboration
• Outlook Tasks
▫ Tasks can be assigned between people in Outlook
▫ Kelli creates the task alerting the ER department
as to a problem and I respond

26. Serials Librarian Collaboration
• As a result of the Serials Review work, it was
noticed that many of the titles that Ebsco
switched from print to print + online were never
set up.
• As a result, a new project was created to identify
these titles and rectify the situation.

27. Win-Win Situation

28. Making the Impossible Possible:
Advice to tech services and to subject librarians for
effective collaborations
Nancy Linden
Science and Engineering Librarian
University of Houston Libraries
Charleston Conference 2011

29. 4 pieces of advice to tech services
for effectively collaborating with
subject librarians

30. 1. Find a subject librarian interested
in working with you on this project
A SL can assist in showing other SLs what’s in it
for them and what’s in it for the organization
A SL can translate tech services language into
public services language
A SL will understand colleagues’ priorities

31. 2. Find ways to help subject librarians be
productive so that you get what you need
Provide tools, info, suggestions upfront
Figure out: where are the tasks most productively done?
(i.e. If SL rarely use ERM or tech services side of ILS…)
Be prepared to explain-- tech services lingo and
processes are foreign to SL
It may be in your best interest to do more in order to get to
the goal.

32. 3. Find opportunities for face time
4. Repeat and remind

33. 3 pieces of advice to subject
librarians for effectively
collaborating with faculty

34. 1. Make it easy for faculty
 Make it easy to read
- Edit out unnecessary info/columns and re-label
library lingo
 Make it easy to respond to
- Provide some recommendations yourself so that
faculty aren’t being asked to do all the work
- Send only titles you need responses about or group
them (high cost per use titles, high cost journals,
any low use titles, low impact journals)

35. 2. It may take several tries to find the best
communication method for your
department(s)
 Work through your department liaison
 Email entire department
 Present at department meeting
 Sit in a department conference room with treats and
invite drop-ins
 Post a survey to Libguide

36. 3. The back and forth with faculty will
take much longer than you expect
Start the conversation with faculty at least 2-3
months before actual deadline
Give faculty 4-6 weeks to respond initially
Check in with them periodically

37. One last piece of advice to your
organization: make sure the message
is consistent
Post a document on Library website from
Administration for across the board cuts or highly
charged situations
Craft a communiqué that all SL can use as a template
 Make sure SL understand the importance of aligning
with library message. Discuss it!

39. Changes for SR 2012
• Lightning Round
• Limited addition of titles with Tier 1 justification
• Begin mid-year
• Classic
• Additions only with cancellations
• Regular serials review timeline
• Forms
• Create new Packages Form
• New form to request pricing and licensing
• Format Changes
• If not requested to remain in print, Kelli will change to
online only

40. At your library
• Collaborate & Communicate
▫ ER
▫ Subject selectors/Collection Development
▫ ILL

41. Contact Info
• Kelli Getz
▫ Assistant Head of Acquisitions
▫ klgetz@uh.edu
• Jeannie Castro
▫ Electronic Resources Coordinator
▫ jmdowney@uh.edu
• Nancy Linden
▫ Science and Engineering Librarian
▫ linden@uh.edu