Renew or Cancel? Applying a Model for Objective Journal Evaluation

Abstract

For the University of Ottawa, the journal renewal period is September–October and arrives at a time when subject librarians are busy teaching and meeting with new students and faculty, leaving little time for anything else, especially making difficult decisions such as cancelling journals with an ever-rising price tag. Library staff developed a cascading model for evaluating journal subscriptions. It is based on several variables, such as accessibility, value, price, and usage. Paraprofessionals can populate the model with data, reducing the librarians’ work considerably. The model was tested for print and ejournals, for small journals packages and large renewal lists.