Print subscriptions ended: December 31, 2020 

Estimated savings: $20,000 

Print journals affected: 

• Nature 
• Psychological Review 
• Psychological Bulletin 
• American Psychologist 

Reason for cancellation: 

• All titles are available through stable online sources (such as direct digital subscriptions)  
• Print journals see very low usage 

Alternative resources: 

All journals continue to be available electronically:

• Nature 
• Psychological Review 
• Psychological Bulletin 
• American Psychologist 

This cancellation decision has been made based on cost, availability of duplicated digital content, and impact on disciplines.  

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns. 

Access ends: March 29, 2021 

Estimated savings: $20,000 

Reasons for cancellation: 

• Many alternate resources for company and industry information are available through the library 

• Between Mergent Online and MarketLine Advantage (which are similar in coverage), comparator universities have a strong preference for Mergent Online 

Alternative resources include: 

• IBISWorld 

• Mergent Online 

• Sustainalytics 

• Business Insights: Essentials 

• ABI/Inform Complete 

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines. 

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource. 

Access ends: December 31, 2020 

Estimated savings: $7000 

Reason for cancellation: 

• High cost per use (over $35/article accessed) 

• The library has other resources that cover the same topics 

Alternative resources include: 

• ScienceDirect – Life Sciences collection 

• A dictionary of genetics (Oxford University Press) 

• Oxford dictionary of biochemistry and molecular biology (2nd ed.) (Oxford University Press) 

• A dictionary of plant sciences (Oxford University Press) 

• A dictionary of zoology (Oxford University Press) 

• The dictionary of cell and molecular biology (Elsevier) 

• Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia (Gale eBooks) 

• Encyclopedia of evolution (Credo) 

• Concepts of biology (OER) 

• Microbiology (OER) 

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines. 

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource. 

Access ends: December 31, 2020 

Estimated savings: $8,000 

Reason for cancellation: 

• High cost per use (over $40.00 per article access this past year)  

• Low or declining use of the journals 

Alternative resources: 

• Indexing to both journals will remain available and Inter-library loan is available and encouraged  

• Full-text access prior to 2016 is available (Nature Neuroscience in Academic Search Complete; Nature Climate Change in Environmental Complete) 

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines. 

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource. 

Access ends: December 31, 2020 

Estimated savings: $500 

Reason for cancellation: 

• Low use, resulting in high cost per use 

• Many alternative resources available 

Alternative resources: 

• ScienceDirect 

• A Dictionary of Economics 

• Routledge Dictionary of Economics 

• Collins Dictionary of Economics 

• The Penguin Dictionary of Economics 

• An encyclopedia of macroeconomics 

• The SAGE Encyclopedia of Economics and Society 

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines. 

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource. 

Access ends: December 31, 2020 

Estimated savings: $22,000  

Reasons for cancellation: 

• The Science & Technology Journal Package accounts for less than 5.5% of overall Taylor & Francis journal usage but accounts for 26% of our overall Taylor & Francis costs.  

• The strength of the Taylor & Francis journal collection is the Social Sciences and Humanities Package, which includes key health titles, all of which are being retained 

Alternative resources: 

• CINAHL 

• ScienceDirect 

• IEEE Xplore Digital Library 

Moderate-use titles with 90+ uses over three years combined (average 30+ uses/year) in order of most used to least:

• Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition  

• Society & Natural Resources  

• Traffic Injury Prevention  

• Ergonomics  

• International Journal of Production Research  

• Chronobiology International  

• Behaviour & Information Technology   

Indexing to these journals will remain, and articles may be accessed via Interlibrary Loan. 

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines. 

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource. 

Access ends: December 31, 2020 

Estimated savings: $15,000 

Reasons for cancellation: 

• PressReader access is limited to current and very recent newspaper issues only 

• MacEwan’s PressReader usage appears to be primarily non-academic in nature; most usage is for local or national titles such as the Edmonton Journal and the Globe & Mail 

• MacEwan University Library subscribes to other, more comprehensive, newspaper databases 

Alternative resources: 

• Canadian Newsstream 

• Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly (CPI.Q) 

• Digital archives of the Calgary Herald 

• Digital archives of the Edmonton Journal 

• Digital archives of the Globe and Mail 

• Nexis Uni 

• PressReader via the Edmonton Public Library, accessible through personal EPL card or MacEwan’s L-Pass program 

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines. In addition, the Bachelor of Communication Studies and School of Continuing Education programs have been consulted to ensure no curricular impact. 

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource. 

Access ends: December 31, 2020

Estimated savings: $8,000

Reason for cancellation:

• This resource sees extremely low usage
• Content is primarily French language scholarly journals

Alternative resources:

• Open access articles continue to be made available via Érudit; although often with the most current year being unavailable

Additional information:

• This is an important Canadian-based open access initiative, which the library will continue to support through a moderate voluntary contribution (this has already been factored into the savings).

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines.

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource.

Access ended: October 1, 2020

Estimated savings: $7,000

Reason for cancellation:

• The library has other encyclopedia resources including many that are discipline-specific

Alternative resources:

• Credo Reference
• Oxford Reference Online Premium
• Britannica.com - a free version including selected content
• Britannica School edition - available to students and faculty in select programs* via the LearnAlberta Online Reference Centre

*Students and faculty in the Special Needs Educational Assistant, Bachelor of Early Childhood Curriculum Studies, Library and Information Technology and University Preparation programs can contact the library for login and password

This cancellation decision has been made based on usage data, cost, uniqueness of content, overlap of content with other databases and impact on disciplines.

Please contact Sandy Stift, Associate Dean, Library, stifts@macewan.ca if you have questions or concerns about this resource.

As we approach the fall 2020 semester, MacEwan Library is working hard to provide alternative access to our Textbook Collection. The majority of textbooks we currently have on reserve are print copies and students cannot access them without coming into the Library. We recognize library copies do not replace the access students have when using a purchased or rented copy of their required textbook. For example, Library copies of textbooks do not include a code for online quizzes and supplementary materials which some courses require students to access.

To support faculty and students over the next few months, we are modifying our approach to acquiring course textbooks to ensure that students have access even in a primarily online, alternative delivery environment. However, this work is hampered as most major publishers will not sell electronic copies to libraries.

Enhanced textbook access options include: 

1. Scan on Demand – a new MacEwan Library service that makes it possible for students to request a scanned portion from any book in our print collections (including textbooks).  

   • This service is subject to MacEwan Fair Dealing Guidelines and multiple requests for the same title from the same person will not be filled. 

2. More copies of certain high-demand textbooks are being purchased to accommodate a 72hr quarantine period between uses. 

   • New for this Fall, students will be able to place holds on textbooks. 

To review all options available to students, visit our Find Textbooks page. 

Questions? 

Email us at collections@macewan.ca 

This article was inspired by “Commercial Textbooks Present Challenges in a Virtual Environment” by The University of Guelph Library.