The SEL acquisitions budget is always a matter of concern to us all. This newsletter will provide a way to pass on information about SEL acquisitions, funding, and purchasing power. Our allocation was close to what we had anticipated, and reflects the reallocation made last Spring within the University Libraries to help compensate for SEL s serial price inflation. Inflation of serial prices, however, continues to dramatically affect SEL purchases. SEL now has significantly fewer serial titles than five years ago.
Electronic journals are a useful addition to our collection.
However, full-text journals of interest to SEL users, usually requires us to either subscribe to the print version or pay a price equal to or greater than the print subscription. Because of this, the acquisition of electronic journals has not generally relieved budgetary pressures. Book purchases in most subject areas have also decreased, as a larger proportion of the SEL budget has been allocated to maintaining existing journal subscriptions. The last page of this newsletter will give a quick listing of SEL names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. Please let us know if you have a concern, need help with using our resources, or would like to make a suggestion to help us improve our services and collections.