SFU Library serials collections information

New serial subscriptions

Proposals for new journal subscriptions must come to the liaison librarian from the departmental library representative, because of the ongoing commitment of the library budget for that department.  The Library's goal is to build and maintain a deep and stable collection of journals relevant to the teaching and research at SFU.  Funds for new serial subscriptions can come from a variety of sources such as cancelling another title of equivalent value, moving funds from a book budget line, or from course assessments.  Please ask your liaison librarian or Collections Management staff for more details about this. 

Serials costs

We also provide a list of SFU Library Serials Costs for each department.

Electronic journal usage data

Statistics for electronic journal usage from selected publishers have been tallied from 2003 onwards. The usage statistics are supplied by the publishers and measure the number of articles accessed per journal by SFU users. The usage statistics are listed below in Excel files (.xls). Please contact Collections Management if you have questions about the electronic journal usage statistics.

The reports are a compilation of COUNTER (Counting Online Usage of Networked Electronic Resources) reports TR J1, JR1 (releases 3, 4, and/or 5) indicating most retrieved journals thoughtout the year (where data is available). 

Migration to electronic-only journals

The SFU Library still receives a portion of journal literature in both print and digital formats, and pays for both. The Library has undertaken a process in consultation with faculty, to review these dual subscriptions and migrate to electronic-only journals when possible. This has was a significant Collections project from 2003 to 2009 and has continued over the years as print journals become available in electronic format. For details, please see our list of Criteria and timeline.

Details about the financial implications of these changes in the library materials budget are also provided: