Growing an Electronic Journals Collection: The Experience of One Library

Abstract

A description of the rapid growth of electronic access to journals is given for the Library of the UT Southwestern Medical Center. Growth of the collection is shown since the first order for online access to a single journal, the Journal of Biological Chemistry, to the current collection of more than 2,000 online titles. The effect of this rapid growth in electronic access on staff, the Web pages of the Library, and traditional functions of serials acquisitions and budgeting is described. The value of the electronic journal collection is presented using comments collected in the client contact database and from a series of focus groups recently completed involving faculty, staff and student users of the Library.