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Collections

How the University Library Collections Group is Managing its Budget Limitations in Fiscal Year 2025

The University Library’s objective remains constant: provide the broadest access we can to the resources UCSC faculty, staff, and students need to support their research, teaching, and academic success.

To accomplish this objective in Fiscal Year 2025 (FY 25), the library is:

1. Prioritizing our funding of and participation in the California Digital Library (CDL) licensed resources (e.g., JSTOR, Wiley, Project Muse, ACS, etc.) because these resources most effectively support the broad range of faculty and graduate student research and publishing needs and they most comprehensively support student teaching and learning.

  • FY 25 Actions to support this priority: utilizing standard library collection assessment practices (cost per use, cost per ILL transaction) to assess locally licensed resources and canceling titles that can be more efficiently and cost-effectively supported through Interlibrary Loan/Resource Sharing.

 

2. Investing in Demand Driven Acquisition (DDA) and Course Reserves Services because these services support students in meeting their course requirements and support course affordability. DDA also supports print and ebook-focused research support requests that are not already met through our Interlibrary Loan/Resource Sharing agreements or our CDL-licensed ebook agreements.

  • FY 25 Actions to support this priority: Maintaining our budget allocation for Demand Driven Acquisitions and Course Reserves.

 

3. Leveraging our Interlibrary Loan/Resource Sharing Services because these services support unique research requests outside of our CDL and DDA programs by relying on and investing in the strong relationships we have in the UC and beyond.

  • FY 25 Actions to support this priority: shoring up Interlibrary Loan staffing and contracting through the California Digital Library with a for-fee document delivery service to ensure that ILL staff has the support it needs to meet demand.

 

4. Preserving the future of and access to the print scholarly record through our participation in Shared Print Programs and our partnerships with University of California, United States, and North American Libraries (JACS, WEST, the Partnership, and HathiTrust).

  • FY 25 Actions to support this priority: maintaining our investments in shared print organizations that support collective retention of and access to academic journals and books. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

The California Digital Library is the main licensing coordinating body for the UC Libraries. The CDL staff negotiate pricing and licensing terms for ebooks and journals, etc. on the UC campus libraries’ behalf. Each campus pays a cost share toward the cost of the journal package, database, streaming media, and e-newspapers, that the CDL licenses. CDL licensing helps control campus library costs by negotiating for all of the libraries. Without our CDL agreements, the UCSC Library would not be able to provide access to as many materials as we currently can.
In brief, it is a service that makes an average of 6000 print books and 4,800 electronic books available to purchase through Library Search every year.

The library works with an academic book supplier to include books with subject areas and produced by publishers of interest to the campus. As books that match the interests and publishers we have specified are published (in print and electronically), we add their records to Library Search. When you come across an ebook DDA title, you’ll click the link to access the book immediately. When you come across a print DDA title, you’ll see a link to ask us to purchase the book for you. Print books are ordered and held for you at the library’s service desk of your choosing (McH or S&E).

Example of Library Demand Driven Acquisition link

The advantage of DDA is that it gives you access to more than 10,000 new titles annually when you need them and it allows the library to stretch its financial resources to acquire only the books most needed by you.
Accessing DDA is seamless. Before you start searching for materials in Library Search, make sure you sign in.

Image of log in button on Library Search page

Start your searching process and when a book you want is available to you through the Demand Driven Acquisitions service, you will see a link that will guide you through the process for accessing or acquiring it. If we do not have it through DDA, an Interlibrary Loan request form will be available in the record.
Locally licensed resources are the materials (eBooks, journals, databases) we license and pay for on our own, without CDL support.
Interlibrary Loan is a formal service between libraries that allows library users to borrow books and other materials their ‘home’ library does not own. The service is integrated into Library Search.
Shared Print refers to formal collaborations between and among libraries and organizations where members agree to collectively retain and share print copies of journals and books to ensure their longevity and access. Books and journals are reviewed by participating libraries for their availability (online and in print) and are identified as candidates for deposit in shared print repositories. The UC Libraries deposit shared print books and journals into the Regional Library facilities. UC faculty, staff, and students can request access to shared print books and journals through our Interlibrary Loan service. UCSC participates in and is a member of WEST, HathiTrust, JACS and the Partnership.