Library Impacts: FAQs

Answers to commonly asked questions regarding USF Libraries’ collections revisions can be found below. If you have a question that is not found on this page, please fill out our Question & Comment Form or contact a librarian directly.

Through contractually-defined perpetual access, the USF Libraries’ retains permanent e-based access. The USF Libraries is refocusing its collection expenditures on items that we can acquire with perpetual access rather than licensed subscriptions associated with recurring annual costs.

“Big Deal” journal packages offer deeply discounted pricing to a large number of titles from a publisher, versus the title-by-title subscriptions we maintained in print. In some cases, the USF Libraries pays for a set list of subscriptions, plus an additional “access fee” for the remaining titles in the package. In other cases, the publisher has moved to a “database model” based on the USF Libraries’s original cost for title subscriptions that allows access to all titles in the package. The problem is that, as budgets decrease or remain stagnant, the cost of these packages continues to increase each year with no option to cancel titles that we no longer need. In some cases, the price increase from the publisher is justified by the addition of titles to the package that the USF Libraries would not have selected. This has become an unsustainable situation.

eJournals

Over the past few decades, academic journals have increasingly become consolidated (“bundled”) under a few large publishers such as Elsevier, Springer, and Taylor & Francis, in what are colloquially known as “Big Deals.”
  • Fifty-two (52) percent of the USF Libraries’ annual expenditures are committed to licensing these multi-year bundles.
  • Annually, the costs of the bundles increase from 3.5 to 6 percent; years of compounding annual cost increases have negatively impacted the USF Libraries.
  • In negotiations with publishers, cost increases are presented as “take it or leave it” propositions.
  • This is a global trend that mirrors the pattern previously seen in textbook costs.

eBooks

The USF Libraries use a Patron-Driven Acquisition (PDA) strategy in which publishers provide an array of ebook records to the USF Libraries catalog. Ebooks that are electronically “checked-out” multiple times by USF faculty and students are then purchased by the USF Libraries.
  • Ten (10) percent of the USF Libraries’ annual expenditures are committed to acquiring ebooks.
  • Once ebooks are purchased, they are owned by the USF Libraries with perpetual access available to the USF community.
  • Costs and annual rates of increase in ebooks are roughly parallel to those of the print books.

Databases

The USF Libraries provide access to an array of databases ranging from indexing sources to reference tools. We acquire these databases using both annual access agreements and outright purchase.
  • Twenty-six (26) percent of the USF Libraries’ annual expenditures are committed to acquiring or leasing databases.
  • Costs and annual rates of increase in databases are very modest (0-3%) in comparison to those prevalent in the ejournal bundles.

Streaming Media

Like Netflix and other streaming content providers, the movies in Kanopy and Swank are leased for defined time periods.
  • At the end of the lease cycle (typically one year), we no longer have access to the leased titles.
  • Use of Kanopy and other streaming media platforms has exploded, but recurring funding sources have not been established.

Full Text Journal Articles

Interlibrary Loan and expedited Document Delivery are core library services to support your research. Through strategic reallocations of personnel and funding, the USF Libraries will increase capacity and enhance the user experience across all three USF campuses. Additional options include:
  • Make your own publications available Open Access via the USF Libraries Faculty Researcher Profiles: Tampa Petersburg
  • Search for Open Access content via Google Scholar or Open Access browser plug-ins such as Open Access Button and Unpaywall.
  • Text or chat your questions to our Ask a Librarian.

Electronic and Print Books

The USF Libraries will continue to purchase ebooks within our budgetary limits with an emphasis on titles with the most substantial usage. Email lib-orders@usf.edu.
  • Streamlined Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and Document Delivery services provided through the consolidated USF Libraries will ease access to books generally. Visit our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) page to borrow books, chapters, and articles both within the USF Libraries and from academic libraries across North America.
  • Consult with your Liaison Librarian to find books and other materials on similar topics.

Streaming Movies and Documentaries

Because the USF Libraries must scale back leasing streaming media and refocus on purchases for permanent access, we are encouraging faculty to work with us to successfully navigate this challenge.
  • Explore the movies and documentaries available through the USF Libraries Guide to Media.
  • Know and exercise Fair Use:
    • In US copyright law, Fair Use is the doctrine that brief excerpts of copyrighted material may, under certain circumstances, be quoted verbatim for purposes such as criticism, news reporting, teaching, and research, without obtaining permission from or payment to the copyright holder. Use our USF Fair Use Checklist to help you determine if your use of copyrighted content can be considered as “fair use.”
    • TEACH Act: In US copyright law, the TEACH Act instructs educators if and when they can legally use copyrighted works in their distance education programs. Use our USF TEACH Act Checklist to help you determine if your use of media in your distanced courses fits within the conditions of the TEACH Act.
    • Consult with the USF Libraries Copyright Librarian if you have any questions about Fair Use, the TEACH Act, or your use of copyrighted materials.
  • Consult with your Liaison Librarian to find alternative media content.

Open Access articles, books, media, and other creative content are freely available and can be used in research or instruction activities. In many instances, when a research article is accepted, individual USF faculty have to pay publishing fees, while the USF Libraries simultaneously pay millions for annual subscriptions. Many studies have found that Open Access research articles are read and cited more than those that are only available behind subscription walls; increased visibility also increases impact.

We encourage faculty to consider publishing in Open Access journals or retaining the copyright to your own research and intellectual property. When possible, deposit a copy of your published research in the USF Libraries institutional repositories as noted below. Throughout it all, we’ll answer your questions and connect you to the resources you need.

No. The library serves all academic colleges and programs across the University of South Florida and we will continue to promote the principles of academic freedom by providing a wide range of materials in different disciplines. Throughout our process of collection envisioning, we will strive to maintain collections equity across all disciplines.

Ejournals available through Elsevier and Cambridge have multi-year licenses that are not set to expire at this time.  For other ejournals, from publishers with multi-year “big-deal” bundles that are ending, the USF Libraries is using a journal subscription analysis program called Unsub to make evidence-based decisions on the most effective journals to keep.  Re-acquisition decisions will be based on an analysis including the following variables:
  • Journal article downloads by USF researchers
  • Frequency of USF faculty publishing in the journal
  • Frequency of USF faculty citing articles within a journal
  • USF subject and disciplinary areas of emphasis
  • Journal subscription cost and cost per use
  • Availability of Open Access and/or archival content
  • Cost of anticipated ILL / Document Delivery
  • Cost of potential copyright payments

Yes. JSTOR stands for Journal Storage and JSTOR is a library cooperative created to ensure that member libraries had perpetual access to scholarly journals when we were all making the initial transition from print to electronic periodicals. The USF Libraries was an early cooperative member and we have continued access to this critical collection.

Journal Table of Content Alerts:

  • JournalTOCs is a free service that provides access in one place to the most recent tables of contents for over 36,000 journals. Alerts can be emailed or sent to an RSS feed.

Alerts by Topic:

  • Most article databases will let you set up email alerts when articles matching your search criteria are published.   
  • Or else sign up for Google Scholar Topic Alert by following these steps (a Google Account is required):
    • Go to Google Scholar and perform a search for your topic.
    • Locate the Create Alert icon (a gray envelope on the bottom of the left column)
    • Adjust your Alert options and enter your email address in the Email box.
    • Click Create Alert.
For these and other Alerting options, visit the USF Libraries Alerting Services webpage.

The USF Libraries have streamlined Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and Document Delivery services into one request form across all USF campus libraries and reassigned personnel from other units to support additional demand.  Visit our Interlibrary Loan (ILL) page to borrow books or request document delivery across all the USF Libraries and from academic libraries across North America.

Our current service standards deliver articles to the desktop within 48 hours and many on the same day. With the changes to our service model we aspire to make this process as quick as possible. We will also report our performance on a periodic but regular basis to hold us accountable.

At this time, we are not placing limits on the number of articles faculty may request each day. This practice may be revised during the Spring semester if the volume of requests exceeds our capacity; no decision to establish limits will be made unless we determine that it is absolutely necessary.

As a result of the university’s strategic budget realignment process, the USF Libraries are unable to purchase new subscriptions or content with recurring expenses at this time.

We will continue to work with USF faculty to support  teaching and research in the following ways:

  • Enhanced ILL / Document Delivery services deliver books, chapters, and articles to your home address or desktop.
  • We will retain your request until we are able to return to active collection development.
  • Consult with your Liaison Librarian to find alternative books and other materials on similar topics.

The USF Libraries will continue to review and process faculty book purchase requests based on our budgetary limits in accordance with the general collecting principles.

  • Print books: Non-recurring items such as individual books are processed via request as funds allow and balanced across disciplines as needed.
  • Ebooks: The USF Libraries will continue to purchase ebooks with an emphasis on titles with the most substantial usage.
  • To request a title for the USF Libraries to purchase, Consult with your Liaison Librarian to find books and other materials on similar topics.

Yes, the USF Libraries ebooks for the Classroom program continues, but library purchase depends on whether the textbook is available as an ebook AND with a license that the USF Libraries can obtain either through an institutional or a perpetual access license.

As a result of the university’s strategic budget realignment process, the USF Libraries are unable to purchase new subscriptions or content with recurring expenses at this time.

We will continue to work with USF faculty to support your research in the following ways:

  • We will retain your request until we are able to return to active collection development.
  • Consult with your Liaison Librarian to find alternative materials on similar topics.

Please submit all streaming video requests through the Course Reserves function in Canvas. Instructions are available at https://lib.usf.edu/course-reserves/make-request/. If you encounter any issues in submitting through Canvas, please email LIBReserves@usf.edu. The maximum number of videos per course will continue to be limited to five (5) units.

Visit our USF Libraries Media Guide:
  • To search by title to determine if the USF Libraries has perpetual ownership or expiring access to currently available streaming movies.
  • To search for movies and documentaries in the USF Libraries’ extensive DVD movie collection
  • To identify open access media alternatives
If you are using a video that is currently expiring mid-spring semester, we recommend planning to use the video before the expiration date. If you would like additional help finding alternate material, please contact your Liaison Librarian.

Visit our Media guide to see currently available titles, their license expiration date, or whether the USF Libraries owns perpetual access.  See: https://guides.lib.usf.edu/media/streaming-titles

It doesn’t matter where the film you are planning to show comes from — your own copy or part of the USF Libraries collections — under copyright law, copyright holders hold the exclusive right to displaying their copyrighted works.  To show a movie in your online course:

Under U.S. Copyright law, you are not allowed to digitize and stream full videos from a physical copy such as DVD or Blu-ray disc nor can you circumvent or tamper with the TPM: Technical Prevention Mechanism.

Exceptions under Fair Use copyright law exist:

  • When showing a film in an online class, it may be considered fair use depending on how much of the film is being shown and for what purposes. Generally, showing a short clip of a movie that is related to your curriculum and limited only to the students enrolled in your course, is permissible under Fair Use.
  • Use our USF Libraries TEACH Act Checklist as a tool to help point the way to legal use of copyrighted content in your online instruction and to track compliance with the TEACH act.
  • Consult with our Copyright Librarian should you have any questions on Fair Use.