Dear Colleague,

Librarians are under constant pressure to save space and need tools to help them strategically identify how to do so without threatening long-term access to and preservation of their collections.  Based on the framework put forward in the report “What to Withdraw: Print Collections Management in the Wake of Digitization,” Ithaka S+R has developed a freely available tool to support the print collections management decision-making process.

The “Print Collections Decision-Support Tool” applies the criteria of this recently released report to the process of responsibly deaccessioning JSTOR-digitized journals.  Based on the outputs of this tool, any interested library may identify a set of journal titles that can be responsibly deaccessioned without impacting community-wide preservation considerations; however, evaluations of local needs are also required to ensure a comprehensive decision-making process. 

Please join us for a Webinar to learn more about how to use this tool:

A complete instructional guide with FAQ, a form to sign-up for updates, and the tool itself, are available online. This version of the Decision-Support tool is a proof of concept, and we welcome feedback from the community on how we can improve it. 

Working with partners in the coming years, Ithaka S+R hopes to expand libraries’ collections management options by analyzing the withdrawal potential of a far larger number of journals from a variety of sources beyond JSTOR.  

If you have any questions or comments, please contact us directly or at research@ithaka.org

Kindest regards,
Roger Schonfeld and Ross Housewright