Re: Future of the "subscription model?"

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@gmail.com>]

Rick, when your library cancels the $300,000 worth of 
subscriptions, I'm guessing that most of that will go back into 
subscription like-services (paying for the price increases of the 
subs you do keep, paying for new e-resources - most of which will 
have some kind of subscription-like component, even if not for 
actual journals).  Would that be a fair guess? If it is, then the 
subscription model isn't exactly eroding?  Cheers, Ann Okerson


On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 9:14 PM, Rick Anderson 
<rick.anderson@utah.edu>wrote:

>>To date, the subscription model seems alive and well and still 
>>in the best interest of many publishers, societies and 
>>libraries. We are still waiting for evidence that libraries 
>>(and their institutions) are willing to substantially reduce 
>>and/or forego the subscription-based model.
>
> Here's a little bit of evidence, for what it's worth: my 
> library is preparing to cut $300,000 (roughly 10% of the 
> serials budget) from its roster of subscriptions in the coming 
> fiscal year, and in all likelihood to abandon the Elsevier Big 
> Deal as well. This obviously doesn't amount to a wholesale 
> abandonment of the subscription model, but that's not because 
> we have any lingering affection for the model -- it's because 
> the quick extortion of punitive per-article pricing is 
> currently the only alternative to the slower, more gentle 
> extortion of subscription price increases.
>
> ---
> Rick Anderson
> Assoc. Dean for Scholarly Resources & Collections
> J. Willard Marriott Library
> University of Utah
> rick.anderson@utah.edu