Concordia.ca   /   Library   /   About   /   Library collections

Library Collections Cancellations

Overview

At this time of deep structural change for the University, the Concordia Library has been given the mandate to make significant reductions to its operating budget for the 2025/26 academic year. We are undertaking a thorough review of our spending on services and collections, with a view to prioritizing the teaching, learning, and research needs of the University.

Collections background

The collections budget at Concordia is approximately $8 million and allocated as follows:

  • Journals: 47% of budget
  • Databases: 26%
  • Books: 18%
  • Media: 5%
  • Infrastructure (e.g. Sofia, our catalogue): 4%

We are constantly reviewing this spending and adjusting based on librarian expertise and feedback from the Concordia community. Our goal is to have a responsive, diverse, and sustainable collection that meets the unique needs of our students, faculty, and staff.

Collections costs always increase

Like other academic libraries, Concordia Library enters into multi-year agreements with scholarly publishers, to make available the research used and created by our own scholars. The Library mitigates cost increases to our collections through consortial purchasing. As members of the Canadian Research Knowledge Network, a national consortium of 76 universities, and the Partenariat des Bibliothèques universitaires du Québec, a provincial consortium of 19 Quebec universities, we are part of a strong negotiating position with scholarly publishers.

These agreements present two challenges for the Library:

  1. These agreements come with an annual price increase, typically in the range of 4–6% (source: 2025 Serials Price Projection Report by EBSCO).
  2. These agreements are signed in US dollars, requiring the library to absorb currency fluctuations.

At a moment when there is a significant decrease in our operating budget, Concordia Library needs to make tough decisions, including making cuts to our collections.

Back to top

Usage analysis

The Library Collections team has undertaken a significant analysis of our print and online collections. In addition to usage data, the Library is also looking at other factors such as resource costs, content duplication, licensing terms, and full text availability. In our current review, we are focusing on database subscriptions. The Library Collections team has collaborated with our subject librarians to determine alternatives to resources that are being cut (as you'll see in the chart below). We have taken care to ensure that the effects of the cuts are shared fairly so that no one group is disproportionally affected.

Back to top

Immediate and upcoming cancellations

The Library enters into multi-year agreements with publishers, with contract end dates happening at different times throughout the year. As it happens, a certain number of items we have identified to cancel would have renewed on July 1st. To best meet our budget reduction, we must take immediate action. We appreciate that this is a short timeline and are available to support the community in transitioning to use alternative resources. This page will be updated as collections decisions are made.

Back to top

Database Cancellations

Resource Cancellation effective date Main subject area(s) Alternatives
Play IndexMay 1, 2025English Literature Online,
MLA Bibliography,
Sofia,
WorldCat
Short Story IndexMay 1, 2025English Literature Online,
MLA Bibliography,
Sofia,
WorldCat
Investext (formerly accessed via Mergent Online)May 1, 2025Finance NetAdvantage,
SEC.gov,
free data on Seeking Alpha,
FinBox
Communication AbstractsJuly 1, 2025Communication Studies, Journalism Communication & Mass Media Complete
Benezit Dictionary of ArtistsJuly 1, 2025Art History Grove Art Online
Business Book SummariesJuly 1, 2025JMSB Various online book reviews
Computers & Applied Science CompleteJuly 1, 2025Computer Science ACM Digital Library,
IEEE Xplore,
O’Reilly
Entrepreneurial SourceJuly 1, 2025JMSB OWNR (RBC Ventures),
SBA.gov,
BPlans.com,
Business Source Complete
MEDLINE via EBSCOJuly 1, 2025Biology PubMed,
MEDLINE via Web of Science
Psychology & Behavioral Sciences CollectionJuly 1, 2025Psychology, Applied Human Sciences PsycINFO,
Academic Search Complete
Religion & PhilosophyJuly 1, 2025Religion, Philosophy ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials,
PhilPapers
Vente & GestionJuly 1, 2025Business Eureka,
Factiva
RILM Abstracts of Music LiteratureJuly 1, 2025Music Music Periodicals Database
Bibliography of Asian StudiesJuly 1, 2025Social Science Academic Search Complete,
Political Science Complete,
JSTOR,
Project MUSE
Race Relations AbstractsJuly 1, 2025Social Science Academic Search Complete,
Project MUSE,
SocINDEX,
America: History and Life,
JSTOR
Sociological AbstractsJuly 1, 2025Sociology SocINDEX,
Academic Search Complete
Philosopher's IndexJuly 1, 2025Philosophy PhilPapers,
Academic Search Complete
British Humanities IndexJuly 1, 2025English Academic Search Complete,
MLA Bibliography,
Arts & Humanities Database
SustainalyticsNov. 1, 2025JMSB Mergent Market Atlas,
World Bank Catalogue,
Yahoo Finance,
other finance/stock websites
ScopusJan. 1, 2026Multi-disciplinary Web of Science,
OpenAlex,
Google Scholar,
Semantic Scholar,
SCImago Journal Rankings

updated on June 22, 2025

Back to top

Feedback

Feedback can be sent to Amy Buckland, University Librarian.

Back to top arrow up, go to top of page