Why are the Libraries prioritizing 25% of expenditures?
The UM Libraries need to manage serial commitments carefully even in good budget times. Even when our materials budget has been growing we have carried out serial reviews to ensure that we are using collection dollars as effectively as possible. Given rapid changes in the publishing industry and recent enhancements to library services, the Libraries need to better understand our priorities for serials commitments, not just for a small proportion of our collection but for the collection as a whole. By seeking explicit prioritization for 25% of our serial expenditures, the Libraries will be in a strong position to understand how to use the materials budget effectively under a range of scenarios. Inflation on our serial collections has been running at 8-10% per annum for more than a decade with inflation historically increasing more rapidly at times. With this in mind funding that fails to provide for inflation would have a significant impact on the effective purchasing power of the mater
