Policy adopted August 1996

   Selection Guidelines for Serials

• Serials collection
• Electronic journals
• Newspapers

Serials Collection

The serials collection provides materials for undergraduate and introductory graduate student use and the most critical specialized research journals for advanced graduate student and faculty use. The serials collection consists of periodicals and standing orders, and is being greatly expanded by the addition of OhioLINK consortial subscriptions through the Electronic Journal Center.

Because journals have traditionally been the primary vehicle of scholarly communication, they form a very prominent part of the general collection and absorb much of its budget.

Journals are chosen using the Core selection factors.

Electronic Journals

Subscriptions to electronic journals should receive the same scrutiny as subscriptions to print journals, even if they are free of charge. Subscriptions to print and electronic versions of the same title may be held; however, the print subscription should be cancelled when its use becomes low.

The University Libraries do not at this time attempt to archive electronic journals for future access, but rely upon the producers of journals or other sites to provide access to journal archives. Access to archives of back issues should be negotiated and maintained, especially for electronic journals available by subscription.

In addition to the core selection factors, the following criteria should be considered in reviewing a new electronic journal subscription:

• Journal available via a World Wide Web site.
• Search engine available on the Web site and/or electronic or print indexing available at Bowling Green State University.
• Fulltext of the journal available directly from the Web site.
• Back issues available to subscribers, preferably from the Web site.
• Articles available in HTML.
• Reasonable cost; subscription price should be comparable to that of the print version, if one exists, unless the two publications differ considerably in scope or coverage.

Newspapers

In addition to the core selection factors, the place of publication should be considered when reviewing a new newspaper subscription. The University Libraries seek to cover the following:

• Current issues and retrospective holdings of major national newspapers which directly support teaching and research needs.
• Selective coverage of regional and local newspapers.
• Current issues of selected Ohio and Michigan newspapers.
• Retrospective holdings--and indexing--for major alternative press titles (e.g. the Village Voice).
• Daily and/or Sunday issues of a limited number of major newspapers from other states to serve students' job placement needs.
• International newspapers which support the curricular needs of the foreign language departments.
• International newspapers which allow students from abroad to keep informed of events in their homelands. In most cases, the University Libraries subscribe to or accept gifts for only one newspaper from a given country.