Collection Development: Past Projects

ISU Eli M. Oboler Library changed the access mode for 66 Elsevier journals from locally held to being available through Interlibrary loan on January 1, 2015.  The rising cost of journals along with low usage of some journals in our subscription package was one reason that caused us to make this change. This is a similar move to that made by other research universities, including Purdue and Harvard which, like ISU, are seeing their purchasing power eroded by journal price increases greatly exceeding the rate of inflation.

As a library we also recognize that we cannot continue to simply purchase every possible journal in hopes it will be used. So we are moving to an access rather than ownership model that will stress rapid availability of information resources to users at their point of need.  Our plan moving forward is that a combination of rapid item purchasing, interlibrary loan, and document delivery will get users the information they need faster and at a lower cost.