Journal Purchase Request Form

We welcome faculty suggestions for new e-journal subscriptions.

Please contact your library liaison or check our current e-journal holdings to determine whether the library already subscribes to your requested journal or/and another significant journal that can that provide access to equivalent resources.

Since e-journals require a commitment to ongoing and increasing annual expenditure of funds, the library is constrained in its ability to offer new e-journal subscriptions.

When deciding on a new e-journal request, we review criteria that includes pricing, relevance to the curriculum, requirement for use in specific class assignments, inclusion in major indexing and abstracting e-journals, availability of IP authentication, and the potential usage level of the subscription, among other factors. Usage statistics and cost-per-use data will be collected for all newly subscribed e-journals after one year, and e-journals may then be cancelled if usage is low. Unfortunately, at the same time as new academic programs have been added to the curriculum, the library’s ability to purchase new subscriptions has declined, though we try to find ways to honor these requests.

Journal subscriptions typically run from January to December. The library's journal renewal/cancellation decisions are completed once yearly, and must be communicated to vendors by August/September for subscriptions beginning the following January. Requests for changes to the library's journal subscriptions will be reviewed in the spring/summer time frame for action by the September deadline. The library also submits a budget request once per year in early January, where funding for significant new e-journal subscriptions may be requested. Due to these yearly processes, the library is not able to add new e-journals on a rolling basis throughout the year.

Requests from multiple faculty members, especially within a department, indicate a higher potential that the e-journal will be used and make a stronger case for subscription. We ask that each faculty member complete a separate request form in order to provide specific information on how the e-journal will be used in their classes and assignments.

Thank you for taking the time to complete all the questions in this form. A librarian will contact you soon to review your request.

*Required