Re: query about the Big Deal

[Laval Hunsucker <amoinsde@yahoo.com>]

Joe,

You might do well to have a look at the article by Maria Collins, 
"Serials literature review 2008-9: embracing a culture of 
openness", in _Library Resources & Technical Services_ 55.2 
(April 2011), p.60-80 -- especially the sections "The Economic 
Crisis and Sustainable Collections" (p.61-63) and "The Future of 
the Big Deal" (p.63-65). She also cites quite a bit of the 
relevant literature.

Also perhaps: David C. Prosser, "Reassessing the value 
proposition: first steps towards a fair(er) price for scholarly 
journals", in _Serials: The Journal for the Serials Community_ 
24.1 (March 2011), p.60-63; as well as Allen Powell, "Times of 
crisis accelerate inevitable change", in _Journal of Library 
Administration_ 51.1 (January 2011), p.105-129.

They are all available online -- but unfortunately not for free.

Laval Hunsucker
Breukelen, Nederland

----- Original Message -----

> From: Joseph Esposito <espositoj@gmail.com>
> To: "Liblicense-L@Lists.Yale.Edu" <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 1:27 AM
> Subject: query about the Big Deal
>
> I have been in a number of conversations the past few months
> about Big Deals, in which I have been told such things as "The
> Big Deal is over," "Everyone is cancelling the Big Deal," and
> "Unless the prices come down, we will withdraw from the Big
> Deals."  Has anyone documented what is actually going on?  I
> would be very interested to hear of specific actions, whether
> on-list or off.
>
> I suppose that this query runs into the question of definitions:
> What exactly is a Big Deal anyway?  Does the term apply to all
> aggregations or only those of a specific character?
>
> This query is made without judging the actions or the Big Deals
> themselves.  I simply want to understand the phenomenon and to
> determine if there is a gap between rhetoric and reality.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Joe Esposito
>