2017 Charleston Library Conference

Though many libraries have already made the migration from print to electronic journals, the Columbia University Libraries system still has a large print periodical legacy collection. Our materials budget does reflect the move to electronic; as e-journals and databases make up 43% of the current acquisitions budget and print periodicals only make up 4% of the budget. However, this 4% reflects a large number of active titles – 13,000 according to FY 13/14 data.

In this poster session, we will reflect on our case study, which focused on a subset of currently received print periodicals housed in Columbia’s Butler Library. Butler’s Periodical Reading Room receives the largest number of print periodicals (over 1000) across our 17-library system. The presenters investigated titles from one subscription agent with a receiving location of Butler periodicals. We reviewed these titles for electronic availability; if the e-format can be supported by the libraries, and how many of the titles are still only available in print. For those titles that are available electronically, the presenters attempt to answer, “Why are we still getting this in print”?

The goal of this project is to understand the reason print periodicals still need to collected at a large rate at many large University Library systems. We hope that the outcome of the poster informs periodical collection strategies at large institutions with complex print and electronic holdings.