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The University of Wisconsin-Madison has one of the largest research library collections in North America, with more than 8.5 million volumes spread over 125 miles of shelving in the campus’ many libraries and shelving facilities. Today the majority of these facilities are critically full, and as the libraries’ print collections continue to grow, these pressures will only increase. While projects such as the completion of the Verona Shelving Facility will provide some relief from space pressures, it is only part of the solution and will not resolve the long-term space issues of the Libraries. In order to ensure access to print collections into the future, while making room for both expansion and alternative uses of library spaces, the UW-Madison Libraries are implementing a print management strategy aimed at optimizing the utilization of space across all campus libraries.
As a result the Libraries will increasingly rely on electronic versions of journals as a primary form of access and are entering into shared print management agreements with other libraries and organizations. These shared print agreements facilitate preservation and reduce unnecessary duplication among participating universities, while ensuring access to the print versions of journals when they are needed. In some of these agreements print volumes of journals are being held by UW-Madison, while in other instances the print journals will be held by other universities. Moving forward the University Libraries are committed to providing users with convenient access to print versions of materials whenever possible. Users needing access to print can request single volumes or entire runs of needed journals. The Libraries are also committed to furthering the coordination of shared print collections and to being an active participant in the national shared print landscape.
The journals potentially impacted by this strategy will be those where the Libraries have licensed perpetual access to the electronic version and where the Libraries have an agreement to preserve and provide UW-Madison users with access to the print version of the journal. Titles meeting these criteria may be candidates for with withdrawal.
Current agreements in place and impacted publishers or collections are:
A title-by-title list of journals potentially impacted by this strategy can be found here.
If you have additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact your subject liaison or me.
Karla Strand, Interim Collection Development Officer