Academic library administration: A case examination of faculty-librarian perceptions of journal cancellations and the decision-making process in a large, urban institution

As the academic library plays the role of both intermediary and adjudicator of collection purchases and cancellations, faculty involvement in library resource decisions is not only commonplace, but essential to making these campus decisions (Atkinson, 1993). Faculty involvement in cancellation projects is often enhanced by a thorough explanation of the depth of the financial problems confronting libraries as a result of journal pricing (Barstow, 1993).; Previous studies on scholarly-communication issues start with the initial studies of journals by Fry and White (1976) and Scholarly Communication: The Report of the National Enquiry (1979), which creates the historical foundation for this examination of scholarly-communication issues. Fry and White (1976) researched library budgets and the shifting of fiscal resources from monograph purchases to maintain journal collection purchases. Both of these studies set the stage for an understanding of the continued scholarly-communication problems that academic institutions would face in the following decades.; With this study of the factors seen through both a faculty and librarian lens, this study descriptively examines how these members of higher education tend to view these cancellation factors, both from the vantage point of library users (faculty) and collectors of information (librarians). Future collaborative decision-making opportunities between librarians and faculty will further determine whether other groups of librarians and faculty agree upon the use of these factors, and to what degree.; Among the findings of this study, faculty and librarians indicate highly similar preferences for factors to use when canceling journals; namely two of ten factors, in-library usage and authority, were named important considerations by both groups. Second, in examining librarian perceptions of barriers to faculty involvement in decision making, this study highlights the perceived constraints preventing faculty participation in journal cancellation decisions. Librarians named time (42%) and information (36%) as the two main reasons that faculty would have non- or low-participation with librarians on journal cancellation decisions.