THE SERIALS CANCELLATION CRISIS - NATIONAL TRENDS IN ACADEMIC-LIBRARYSERIAL COLLECTIONS

Domestic serials cancellation and serials holdings records for 3 years (1992-1994) from 10 U.S. academic research libraries were collected a nd analyzed to describe broad characteristics of domestic serial colle ctions, to determine how recent rounds of serial cancellations have af fected academic research collections nationwide, and to identify natio nal trends in serial collections. The data were obtained from the data base of The Faxon Company with the permission of the libraries partici pating in the study. The results confirm the conclusions of previous s tudies, which determined that academic libraries were cancelling journ als unique to their collections and other collections. The cancellatio n overlap rate continues to document a trend toward maintaining duplic ated core serial collections at the expense of peripheral and unique s ubscriptions. The balance among disciplines has not changed, despite t he significant serial cancellations that have taken place over the pas t several years. Furthermore, in a shift from previous findings, all a reas of domestic serials appear to be at risk of cancellation. (C) 199 7 Elsevier Science Ltd.