Guidelines

Careful judgment is required in establishing new databases or journal subscriptions. Databases and journals represent an ongoing commitment of fiscal resources. Prices of these resources increase much more rapidly than the library's budget, resulting in less money for other resources. New subscription requests will be reviewed based on criteria outlined below.

Requests for new subscriptions may be submitted to the library liaison, the Resource Management Department, or through the form below.

The Library's Collection Development Committee meets monthly to review and discuss requests for journal and database subscriptions. Whenever feasible, trials are requested. Trials of databases and online journals are scheduled for periods when they can be evaluated by students, faculty, and librarians.

The Director of Libraries makes the final decision on new journal / database subscriptions based on the Collection Development Committee's recommendation and feedback from trials (as relevant).

Criteria for Journals

When reviewing a journal subscription, the Collection Development Committee considers the following:

• Format - electronic access to journals is preferred; only under rare circumstances will the library consider a print subscription.
• Indexing of the title - journals must be indexed in at least one subscription database to which Furman has access.
• Full text availability in Furman's resources - if a requested title is available in current full text databases, the scope of the coverage of the full text is assessed.
• Accessibility - the subscription should be seamlessly accessible on campus through IP authentication and through Furman login credentials off-campus.
• Dependability - the subscription provider should be stable and dependable with minimal system down-time.
• Cost - the cost of the journal must be able to be supported by the library's allocation for materials in that subject.
• Justification - the requestor is encouraged to supply a justification for the subscription. We are particularly interesting in knowing how this subscription will be used and by whom.

Criteria for Databases

When reviewing a database subscription, the Collection Development Committee considers the following:

• Accessibility - the subscription should be seamlessly accessible on campus through IP authentication and through Furman login credentials off-campus.
• Dependability - the subscription provider should be stable and dependable with minimal system down-time.
• Cost - the cost of the database must be sustainable to the library.
• Justification - the requestor is encouraged to supply a justification for the subscription. We are particularly interesting in knowing how this subscription will be used and by whom.

The Collection Development Committee takes these various pieces of information, weighs them against each other, and makes a recommendation as to the purchase of the resource. The recommendation goes to the Director of Libraries for a final decision.

If you are interested in submitting a request for a journal or database subscription, please contact your library liaison, the Resource Management Department, or use the form below to submit a request.

Please use the Request Library Materials form to request materials.