Re: query about the Big Deal

[claudia holland <chollan3@gmu.edu>]

Thank you for sharing this information, David.

I would like to know what experience others have had with 
including faculty, who would be affected by journal 
cancellations, in the decision-making process. Granted this may 
open a can of worms better left sealed, but wouldn't this open 
approach inform faculty of the fact that their library is 
experiencing cutbacks or a flat budget and cannot continue to 
provide access to content they may, in fact, rely on for research 
purposes (let's ignore the infrequently used aspect). Should 
faculty be part of this process? Would/does this approach 
minimize the potential backlash to journal cancellations on the 
library or would it simply bog down the inevitable?

Claudia Holland


On 6/27/11 10:22 PM, David Prosser wrote:
> 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