The University of Kentucky Response to
the Crisis in Scholarly Communication and the Rising Cost of Serials

September, 2004

Dear Faculty:

The explosion of electronic information in the last decade has dramatically changed the provision of information by libraries. Increased access to full-text, delivery to the desktop, and campus-wide access to heavily-used resources have become increasingly important to teaching and research across a wide spectrum of disciplines. The Libraries’ budget must stretch to support the growing demand for materials in digital and other electronic formats while continuing to purchase print, microform and other traditional formats that remain the mainstay of our collection. These changes call for a shift in focus to effectively deploy our resources. We must focus on eliminating duplication among formats (electronic, print, or microform) whenever possible so that we can retain access to the broadest possible unique intellectual content. Even in stable years, we must redistribute our limited resources to best utilize them to support teaching, research and service.

Crisis in Scholarly Communication

The UK Libraries continues to face some significant budgetary challenges. The generosity of individuals who contributed to the library materials endowment in previous years has buffered us somewhat from these budget difficulties but inflation is now outpacing our resources and will affect the amount of information available to scholars everywhere. For this fiscal year, we estimated that $500,000 would be needed on a recurring basis to maintain existing subscriptions. The University was able to provide $200,000 leaving us with a gap to fill by canceling low priority titles.

Our difficulties are a symptom of an ongoing crisis in scholarly communication. Worldwide journal prices continue to rise significantly faster than inflation and library budgets. The top research libraries in North America are spending increasing dollars on fewer publications. Data from the Association of Research Libraries reports that research libraries spent 227% more on journals in 2002 than in 1986. The Consumer Price Index increased during the same period by only 64%. The number of serial titles purchased increased only 9%. While a growing number of journals are now available online, this access comes at an extra cost further stretching library budgets. Additionally, control over the bulk of the world’s scholarly information resides with a handful of very profitable information conglomerates. We have created a web site that provides a more complete picture of the crisis in scholarly communication.

How can you help?

We need your help in determining the future of library collections to support the teaching, research, and service of the University of Kentucky. While more comprehensive solutions are being sought, we anticipate cancellation of journals for 2005. We are asking for your assistance in identifying those resources (either print or electronic) that you use most often. Your college or department will be contacted by a library collection manager, but we are also asking all faculty and graduate students to complete a short form identifying up to twenty resources that are used most often (Note: survey ended on April 20, 2004). The principal goal of this process is to maximize the utility and diversity of the library collection, while still being able to balance our budget. Titles will be evaluated on criteria such as use, cost, duplication on campus, citation data, and other quantitative and qualitative measures. Your help in this process is key to its success. We remain committed to the provision of resources and collections our faculty and students need. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. And, thank you for your help in sustaining the excellence of the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Carol Pitts Diedrichs
Dean of Libraries
Diedrichs@uky.edu