Comprehensive Collection Review

As you know we have been working hard on laying the groundwork to review our collections and soon we will be launching the external part of the process. Today I sent a memo to my colleagues in Dean’s Council outlining our goals and the plans. Patrick has also launched a series of webpages that provide greater detail and will be the source for ongoing updates to our community as we progress.

I welcome you to review the webpages and read the memo since they lay out not only our plan but our goals which includes a data-informed and transparent process.  I have spoken with the Provost and he is pleased with our commitment to reviewing our resources and as I state in my letter, I am encouraged by recent conversations that have shown his deep commitment to providing the resources for maintaining the essential collections identified. I anticipate that we will also create a better infrastructure to allow us to review our collections regularly.

Patrick has put together a calendar of what will happen over the next few months:

• January – June – Analysis of monographic resources.
• January – February – Internal review of subscribed resources.
• February – Consult with the Office of the Provost regarding outcomes of the internal review.
• February – March – External review of subscribed resources. This will entail us sharing the more targeted list with faculty and graduate students for input. Patrick and Joelle are working on an easy to use feedback mechanism.
• March – April – Analysis of input received during the external review and further consultation with the UConn community.
• May – Identify and share plans for how expenditures for subscribed resources could be reduced.
• Summer – Fall – Establish FY2017 collections allocations and then implement any necessary reductions in collections expenditures.

As we forge ahead with the review, I want to take a moment to thank so many of you who have put countless hours into this. While it is a significant amount of work, it will give us a healthy overall look at our holdings to ensure we are meeting UConn’s resource needs.