Library, Museums and Press Staff
December 19, 2024

A Message from the Vice Provost on the Library, Museums and Press Budget

Headshot of a man in a suit in front of green trees

Dear Colleagues,

As we continue to navigate financial challenges across the University, I write this message to provide information about the Library, Museums, and Press budget for the 2024-2025 academic year.  

Over the past five years, we have experienced significant reductions in both staffing and general operating budgets. Throughout this period, we have done everything possible to maintain our commitment to the services, programs, and resources we provide despite increasingly limited resources. Unfortunately, rising costs, particularly for library materials, now require us to make additional strategic adjustments to ensure sustainability.  

One significant area impacted will be our collections budget. Effective January 1, 2025, we will be canceling specific journal and database subscriptions, including:  

This decision continues the strategic approach we began with the Elsevier cancellations in 2021. The same driving factors persist: soaring subscription costs and the need to align our expenses with our budget realities. Since the pandemic, price inflation for journal subscriptions has sharply accelerated to between 5 and 9 percent annually, far surpassing the typical 3% increases we experienced in previous years.  

Our current collection development strategy focuses on the following priorities: 

  • Purchasing fewer books “just in case” and prioritizing those directly requested for teaching and research.  
  • Expanding our use of open-access alternatives where feasible.  
  • Leveraging our resource-sharing partnerships to ensure continued access to needed materials.  

We recognize that these changes may have an impact on research and teaching, and we remain deeply committed to supporting the UD community. While full subscriptions to certain journals are not possible at this time, researchers may access articles through alternative methods, including: 

  • Google Scholar  
  • Unpaywall  
  • Open Access Button  
  • Interlibrary Loan (ILL)  
  • Directly contacting corresponding authors  
  • Setting up journal alerts for new publications  

These changes to our subscriptions do not impact your ability to edit, review for, or publish in academic journals. Researchers retain full academic freedom in all scholarly activities.  

We understand these adjustments are not without challenges, and we share your concerns about their potential impact. Please know that we remain open to resubscribing to high-value resources as funds become available. Our liaison librarians are also ready to assist with book recommendations, access, strategies and to answer any questions you may have about these changes.  

Our primary commitment remains unwavering: to support the University’s teaching, research, and service mission in the best way possible. If you have specific concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me, Erin Daix, Associate University Librarian for Acquisitions and Collections Services, or your liaison librarian.  

Thank you for your understanding, patience, and partnership as we work through these difficult, but unfortunately, necessary changes.  

Sincerely,

Signature of Trevor A. Dawes

Trevor A. Dawes

Vice Provost for Libraries and Museums and May Morris University Librarian