Hunt R K
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California, Livermore 94550.
Bull Med Libr Assoc. 1990 Jan;78(1):45-8.
A unique mathematical formula was developed to use for journal deselection decisions. The formula factors in subscription cost, shelving and storage cost, interlibrary loan cost, staffing cost, and use level to determine the institutional cost ratio; this ratio serves as an indicator of the cost-effectiveness of each subscription title. Once the institutional cost ratio was calculated for each of 537 titles, a committee of library staff and senior library customers reviewed the ranked list to decide which subscriptions should be canceled. The committee also considered possible exceptions based on subjective criteria such as availability at local libraries, unrecorded use, and relative importance of the journal. The preliminary cancellation list was then reviewed by the library's research users. They were able to justify library subscriptions to a few additional titles. This method enabled the library to cut its subscription costs by 46%, while cutting only 8% of the total use. In addition, by mediating the mathematical approach with human intervention, the library made these severe cuts without unduly distressing its patrons.
开发了一种独特的数学公式用于期刊筛选决策。该公式将订阅成本、上架和存储成本、馆际互借成本、人员成本以及使用水平纳入考量，以确定机构成本比率；这个比率作为每个订阅期刊成本效益的一个指标。在为537种期刊计算出机构成本比率后，一个由图书馆工作人员和图书馆资深用户组成的委员会审查了这份排名清单，以决定取消哪些订阅。委员会还根据主观标准考虑了可能的例外情况，如当地图书馆的馆藏情况、未记录的使用情况以及期刊的相对重要性。然后，图书馆的研究用户对初步取消清单进行了审查。他们成功说服图书馆继续订阅了一些其他期刊。这种方法使图书馆能够将订阅成本削减46%，同时仅减少了8%的总使用量。此外，通过在数学方法中融入人为干预，图书馆在进行这些大幅削减时，没有过度令其读者感到不满。
