Databases are considered interdisciplinary due to the wide scope of materials available through them. Because of this, added and dropping them is a much more interactive process. Databases also renew on July 1, so all decisions have to be made before the faculty leave at the end of the spring semester.
When all usage data for the previous year has been integrated, the Coordinator of Collections and the Acquisitions Librarian meet and review the usage data. When the budget figures are released for the next year, we will bring our recommendations to the subject specialists for their input. We will then announce what databases, if any, may be canceled.
We prefer not to cancel databases, as they provide access to both our periodical collection and to information that is available through interlibrary loan. Unfortunately, we still need to review them to make sure they are still filling our needs as an institution.