Database Review Project (2010--Completed)

Rationale

Like other university departments and units, the Emory Libraries must reduce our FY 2010 expenditures. Meanwhile the rate of inflation for commercial databases continues to increase at an annual rate of between 8-10%, depending on the vendor. Such inflation, coupled with these university-mandated cuts in our budget, require that we review our current database holdings to reduce our expenditures.

The Emory libraries have been mandated with a cut of $1,064,582 to our FY 2010 budgets for library materials - our budgets for books, journals, databases, and other library materials. To meet this mandated cut we need to reduce our current database expenditures by at least $100,000.

Review Criteria

Subject specialists at the Emory libraries have reviewed Emory's current collection of database resources and made recommendations based on the following criteria:

• Relevance, content, scope and coverage: What is the intended audience? What is the impact on teaching and research at Emory if this database is cancelled? Is the content available in other resources?
• Organization of the material: How current is the content? Is the content searchable in SFX (E-Journals@Emory)? If not, is there a more cost-effective version of the journal which can be integrated into our instance of SFX?
• Cost: What is the cost of the database, including the cost per use?
• Access: Is the product web-based? Is it available for use on campus and off? Is the product easy to use?

Recommendations for Cancellation/Comments

This spreadsheet attached below lists decisions for cancellation or a change of vendors/search platforms for the FY 2010 budget.

User comments about possible database cancellations were solicited until May 30, 2009. Feedback was immensely helpful to library staff in setting priorities for cancellation or a change of vendor/ search platform. User comments also will be considered when it becomes possible to reinstate a specific database in the future, as funding permits.