Background

As users have come to rely more and more heavily on digitized versions of academic journals, many libraries have grown interested in reassigning the space that has been occupied by historical collections of print journals to other purposes. Many libraries face challenges in balancing these local space pressures with their interest in preservation; Ithaka S+R seeks to help libraries maximize their local flexibility in print collections management without threatening long-term preservation across the library system.

The “What to Withdraw” report evaluates the continuing rationales for print preservation in a digital age and scientifically analyzes the requirements necessary in order to meet community preservation needs. It concludes that journals that are adequately digitized and preserved in digital form, contain few images, and are preserved in an appropriate number of print repositories, may be safely withdrawn from library collections without threatening their preservation. 

In response to this report, many librarians have asked for assistance in determining which journals meet these criteria. For example, a research library for which preservation is a core role may be trying to identify titles that can be responsibly withdrawn locally without affecting system-wide preservation of these materials. A different type of library may be looking for a framework to help prioritize de-accessions. For many libraries, the preservation status of journals is one important criterion in a broader decision-making process about print collections management. 

About the Print Collections Decision-Support Tool

To assist librarians with such collections management decisions, Ithaka S+R is developing a decision-support tool to apply the logic of the "What to Withdraw" report. The current version of this tool is now available and can be used by librarians to determine which JSTOR-digitized journals meet the "What to Withdraw" criteria and therefore may be responsibly deaccessioned in print form by any library. 

At the same time, this tool should not serve as a deterministic guide for deaccessioning but as one element of the collections management decision-making process. For example, numerous factors may nevertheless lead a library to retain, either on site or off site, some or all of the print titles covered by the decision-support tool. Some materials may have unique continuing value to local users, faculty in different departments may have differing desires to retain print access, and some libraries have regional or consortial responsibilities. Based on the outputs of this tool, a library may identify a set of journal titles that can be responsibly deaccessioned without impacting system-wide preservation considerations, but evaluations of local needs are also required as part of a comprehensive decision-making process. 

Many other print journals beyond those contained in the present version of this decision-support tool can likely be deaccessioned responsibly from a preservation perspective, but the data and accompanying analysis needed to confirm the preservation status of these journals are not yet widely available. Working with partners in the coming years, Ithaka S+R hopes to expand libraries’ collections management options by analyzing the withdrawal potential of a far larger number of journals from a variety of sources beyond JSTOR.

Accessing the Print Collections Decision-Support Tool

Before using the tool, please click here so that we may inform you when the tool is updated with new data confirming that additional titles are preserved adequately. 

Complete instructions in the use of the decision-support tool are available here

To download the latest version of the tool (9/2010), click here. 

For more information:

• Please contact research@ithaka.org

• Participate in an upcoming webinar

• Download the podcast from the JSTOR Participants meeting at the 2010 ALA Mid-Winter

• Download the "What to Withdraw" presentation.

Webinars

Decision Support Tool April 21st noon-1pm (EDT)

Archived versions of tool

To download the 1/2010 version of this tool, click here.