Current Subscription Review (2024 / 2025)

The Western Libraries will be identifying approximately $29,000 in subscriptions to cancel during the 2024-25 subscription review. 

Why?

Inflation on scholarly journals averaged 5 percent from 2023 to 2024 (per Library Journal’s annual Periodicals Price Survey). Until FY2024, the Western Libraries had been using carryforward to offset inflation and postpone the need for subscription cancellations. The use of this carryforward has always been a stopgap measure, and the Libraries had been simultaneously planning for significant subscription reductions in FY2028 or FY2029. Recent university budget challenges accelerated this timeline. The FY2024 roll-up of unspent state funds from across the university—which have been used to balance the instructional budget for FY2025 and protect Western’s institutional reserves—means that the Libraries’ collections carryforward is gone, and Western will be confronting subscription cancellations starting this fiscal year. 

What will this mean, big picture?

The Libraries will need to identify $29,000 in cancellations during 2024-25; $101,000 during 2025-26; and $100,000+ in subsequent years—or an amount equivalent to roughly 3.9 percent of our Resource Access Budget annually. This will require shifts in how we acquire some research materials, from an ownership model to an access model. In other words, we can no longer own as many journal articles as in the past and will rely more on leased access via aggregator databases or borrowed access via partner institutions. Western is lucky to be part of several strong resource sharing networks, including Summit (regionally) and interlibrary loan (ILL). With these networks in place, even if Western doesn’t subscribe to a particular journal, we can almost always get the articles our researchers need somehow.  

Will there be opportunities for feedback?

Reductions on this scale will require difficult decisions. As such, the Libraries is committed to having frank and collaborative conversations about university subscription priorities so that we can continue to be good stewards and good partners, combining our own expertise with a broad understanding of your diverse needs and perspectives. Over the course of this year, the Libraries’ Subject Teams would like to engage with faculty toward a better understanding of: 

  • your use of journals, books, and other formats
  • your teaching and research needs 
  • your needs with regard to timeliness, turnaround time, and access vs. ownership 
  • your thoughts around publisher business practices, including author copyright and support for smaller publishers 
  • the role of big journal packages in library collections  
  • the role of the UEP and faculty evaluation in shaping the publishing landscape 
  • the impacts of other resource constraints on your experience of the library (e.g., availability of workshops, Studio support, etc.) 
  • how to prioritize these needs and values 

Departments are strongly encouraged to connect with Subject Teams and consider inviting them to Winter or Spring department meetings. 

What will the process look like? 

This year, the Libraries will make cancellation decisions with university input via the established subscription review process. The current review schedule, which will include a feedback survey in February and March, allows the Libraries to make cancellation and renewal decisions by the end of the academic and fiscal years. At the same time, the Libraries hopes to lay the foundation for a significantly improved subscription review process to guide us through FY2026 and beyond. More information about this revised process will become available as it is developed. 

What about books? 

We do not anticipate impacts to the portion of the Resource Access Budget that funds the purchase of books. Nearly a decade ago, the Libraries committed to holding the book budget steady, and for the past few years we have increased the book allocation to support more intensive collection development efforts. While we won’t be able to sustain this increased allocation, we expect the book budget to remain higher than it was several years ago, and to remain steady moving forward. 

What options does Western have for advocacy and action? 

The Libraries will continue to collaborate with peer institutions across the Pacific Northwest and beyond to pool resources, increase access to regional collections, and lobby publishers for more sustainable pricing models. We will also continue to leverage our ILL and other resource sharing networks. In addition, we invite members of the Western community to lobby legislators in Olympia and our colleagues in the publishing world to work toward increased state funding for higher education and libraries, lower inflationary increases on scholarly materials, and more sustainable Open Access models. 

What if I have questions? 

You can review our FAQ page or contact one of our Subject Teams. We always welcome the opportunity to discuss library subscriptions and the changing landscape of scholarly publishing. We will add to the public FAQ as new questions arise.