In this interview, Madeline Kelly discusses the Western Washington University Libraries’ annual collections evaluation process and what she’s learned about sharing news of subscription cancellations.
(3 Sept 2025) Academic library spending continued to decrease between 2014 and 2022, with per student spending dropping almost 20 percent (Jung and Choi, 2025). Combined with recent events such as the reduction in federal research spending, this trend leaves many of us in libraries wondering how we can continue to provide our faculty and staff access to the resources they need.
For insight into one library’s approach to adding and cutting titles in this environment, I reached out to Madeline Kelly, interim dean of libraries at Western Washington University (WWU). We corresponded via email about the Western Libraries’ responsive and transparent annual collections evaluation process, which includes both qualitative and quantitative metrics and incorporates faculty feedback and librarian expertise, and the lessons she’s learned as she’s communicated these decisions to stakeholders. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
The interview in full is here.
