SURVEYING THE DAMAGE - ACADEMIC-LIBRARY SERIAL CANCELLATIONS 1987-88 THROUGH 1989-90

A longitudinal study of serial cancellations was conducted by analyzing the cancellation lists between 1987 and 1990 from five midwestern libraries of the Association of Research Libraries. The study was designed to test the primary hypothesis that large academic libraries, faced with the same negative impacts on their budgets, are cancelling the same or similar types of serials. This hypothesis was disproved. Results of the study showed that, of 6,503 cancelled titles, only 281 (4 percent) were cancelled at more than one library, resulting in 6,222 (96 percent) unique title cancellations within this survey. Results also provide an overall profile of the at-risk journal. An additional survey of collection development officers gives insight into the cancellation decision-making process. The impact on serial collections in research libraries is also explored.