Re: query about the Big Deal

[David Prosser <david.prosser@rluk.ac.uk>]

My paper is available for free from this page:

http://www.rluk.ac.uk/content/article-serials-david-prosser-reassessing-value-proposition-first-steps-towards-fairer-price

but I don't think it will provide the evidence that Joe is 
looking for.  There is, however, some itemising of big deal 
cancellations in the 2010 subscription prices study from Allen 
Press:

http://allenpress.com/system/files/pdfs/library/ap_journal_pricing_study_2010.pdf

It is certainly true that libraries are reacting to the increased 
sophistication of usage statistics and budgetary pressures to 
re-evaluate their commitment to journal big deals.  British 
libraries are looking carefully at usage and pricing and have 
realised that traditional 'reasonable' year-on-year increases of 
5% for big deals are simply unsustainable in a period of flat (at 
best) budgets.

There will naturally be an under-reporting of big-deal 
cancellations as not all libraries will want to boast of a 
reduction in journal access.  Some will cancel and hope that if 
they have made their selections carefully readers will not 
particularly notice that they no longer have access to rarely 
used titles.  I've heard anecdotal evidence that well-managed 
retreats from big deals are accompanied by few murmurings from 
researchers.


David C Prosser PhD
Executive Director, RLUK



On 23 Jun 2011, at 02:33, Laval Hunsucker wrote:

> 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