The University of Iowa Libraries work to offset increases in the costs of information resources each year along with a flat budget (0 percent increase in funding). Our strategy is to minimize the impact of inflation by continuously monitoring the use of the collection to identify and eliminate journals, databases, and ebooks that:
- are low-use
- carry a high cost-per-use
- duplicate content available from other sources
In the past, these processes–along with reducing spending on printed books–have enabled The Libraries to counter rising costs. However, in 2020, subscription costs will increase 5 to 7 percent, and we are finding it difficult to identify further spending reductions. The UI Libraries must identify $600,000 in subscriptions to cancel. Health sciences areas will cut $175,000 and other areas will cut the remaining $425,000. Subscriptions managed by the Law Library are not included in this process.
We need your feedback in order to make the best possible decisions.
Faculty and staff should complete the feedback form by Friday, March 1, 2019 to make a case to keep journal titles or database subscriptions.
Updates and more information about the process is available online.
