1. A&I RIP Survey Andria McGrath Senior Information Specialist Kings College London

2. At your institution: have you already cancelled, or made the decision to cancel, any A&I databases? 22 responses Yes No Not currently

3. At your institution: are you considering the cancellation of any (or any more) A&I databases? 19 responses Yes No Not currently

4. Which databases have been/will be/may be cancelled? ABIX Abstracts - an Australian news index AMED ASSIA Beilstein Crossfire BHI (British Humanities Index [x2] BIOSIS [x3] CAB Abstracts DAAI (Design and Applied Arts Index )

5. Which databases - 2 Emerald Computer Abstracts International Film & Television Literature Index Index to Theses INSPEC [x3 + 1 considered, but rejected] Leisure, Recreation and Tourism Abstracts MLA International Bibliography NTIS (National Technical Information Service)

6. Which databases - 3 Philospher's Index RILM abstracts of Music Literature RSC Analytical Abstracts Scopus Short Story Index Standards Expert Urban Studies Abstracts

7. Drivers for cancellation Budgetary restraints ranked 1st or 2 nd in 9 cases 1 st – 3, 2 nd – 6 Available by other means ranked 1 st or 2 nd in 6 cases 1 st – 2, 2 nd – 4 Low usage ranked 1 st or 2 nd in 4 cases

8. Drivers for cancellation - 2 No longer considered useful ranked 1 st in 3 cases Minority interest not ranked 1 st or 2 nd Other – 2 Contracts restrict what we might actually consider. Money is the main driver for cancellation as opposed to change of use/ something cheaper/ better for free.

9. Who made the decisions? Research staff – 4 Teaching staff – 4 Senior Information service/library staff – 10 Subject specialists/librarians – 10 We consulted with academic staff via library reps Academics still like the A & I databases

10. Databases replaced by alternatives Biosis – CAB Abstracts and Medline CAB Abstracts – EBSCO Environment Complete NTIS – most US government reports are now free on the web. Index to Theses – ETHOS INSPEC – CiteSeer and GoogleScholar

11. Other comments Money is the main incentive Academics have pushed us hard to prove lack of use Decision may yet be rescinded (Scopus) As credit crunch continues – more A&I services will be vulnerable Free services like Google Scholar dont give related records, references, etc.

12. Priority to keep primary journal subs going – may force another A&I database cancellation OK this year – but may change in future OK this year – but will be looking carefully at usage stats – users demand immediate access to full text