Dear University Faculty,

The Library actively supports learning, teaching, and research by providing the information resources needed by students and faculty. In spite of generous funding over the years, the persistent cost inflation has put us in a position where we are unable to provide access to all the content we have in the past.

We are requesting your assistance as we make journal cancellation and retention decisions. In the next weeks, your department will select a representative to work closely with your subject librarian to answer questions or concerns you may have. We need all faculty members to log into journalneeds.lib.byu.edu before November 23rd and tell us which journals are essential for your, and your students’, teaching and research. To answer basic questions, we have provided information about this process at lib.byu.edu/journals-info/.

The approximate timeline for this process is as follows:

1. October – November 23, 2016

You submit a list of essential journals to journalneeds.lib.byu.edu

2. November 30 – December 31, 2016

Your department representative submits a departmentally ranked list of journals to journalneeds.lib.byu.edu

3. January – February 2017

Librarians will review the lists, study usage data, compare costs, work with students, and communicate with department representatives to draft lists of proposed journal titles to retain and cancel

4. March 2017

Librarians will distribute the draft of proposed retentions and cancellations to department representatives for input and feedback

5. April 2017

Librarians will finalize the list of cancellations and retentions based on faculty input balanced with other identified needs across campus

6. May – August 2017

Librarians will begin working with publishers to initiate the cancellation process

7. September 1, 2017

All cancellations and retentions must be submitted to publishers before September 1st

8. December 31, 2017

Access to cancelled materials from January 2018 forward will cease; we will continue to have some access to material subscribed to prior to January 2018

We are committed to providing the highest level of service possible and will do all we can to deliver access to cancelled journal articles through our Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery services.

We welcome any comments, questions, or concerns and urge you to contact your subject librarian for more information and guidance. Thank you for your assistance and continued support of the Library.