Evidence-based librarianship: Utilizing data from all available sources to make judicious print cancellation decisions

As the cost of periodicals continues to rise, libraries must consider the value of titles currently acquired or subscribed to. At Yale University's Cushing/Whitney Medical Library (CWML), staff employed an evidence-based librarianship (EBL) approach that combined use data from several disparate sources to make the best decisions regarding the cancellation of specific journals' print format. These best-evidence sources include the following: a 3-month usage study of 1249 current unbound print journals; statistics about 3465 MEDLINE-indexed electronic journals accessed via ExLibris' linking tool SFX; statistics from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the American Association of Health Sciences Libraries; and various traditional library statistics.