Time for a Change? Reflections on the sustainability of the Big Deal in the current economic climate

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Time for a Change? Reflections on the
sustainability of the Big Deal in the current
economic climate

• Jill Taylor-Roe
• Head of Liaison Academic Services
• Newcastle University

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Practical Impact of the Big Deal _at_ Newcastle
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How we acquire new journals
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Recommendations Vs Purchases
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Major source of concern for UK HE Library budgets
Decline of sterling against the dollar
Decline of sterling against the Euro
Source http//www.uktradeinfo.com/index.cfm?task
exchange
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So are Librarians still in love with the Big Deal?
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JISC Banding
The sample shows an acceptable representation of
JISC banding
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Big Deal stats for all Bands
Overall in this survey there are still some
institutions who do not take any Big Deals but
this is reducing. (Min0) The most likely of
Big Deal subscriptions (in this survey) for 2009
is 15, cf. to 5 in 2007 (Mode) In this sample the
max of Big Deals being taken in 2009 has
increased by 11.8 since 2007 The average of
Big Deals has not dramatically increased.
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NESLI Big Deals are still the dominant model
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How much of the serials budget goes on Big Deals?
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What do librarians like about Big Deals?
'Critical mass' of titles through single
interface Model licence Stable platforms Value
for money
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What do librarians dislike about Big Deals?
Admin, late deals, restricted years, lack of
uniformity and standards in nesli deals. Print
spend model is arbitrary, pricing according to
usage might well increase rather than decrease
costs... Lack of transparency in pricing.
Complex. Multiyear nature in uncertain financial
climate. Nothing - except the psychological
aspect of tying up funds with a few suppliers
Price caps too high. Deals where new and
transfer titles are not included. Deals where
post-cancellation access is unclear and/or
restricted to 'subscribed' titles Pricing models
are becoming more complicated each year. Whilst
we retain print too the complication of checking
print subscription renewals!
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Are Librarians still happy with the Big Deal?
complexity and unhelpful policies. Other concern
is the length of deal if they don't have 'annual'
opt out clause.
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Have you ever cancelled a Big Deal?
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How are you coping with a budget shortfall?
Range of shortfall 2009
Min 5,000
Max 450,000
Ave 143,733.33
Median 120,000.00
Large scale cancellation exercise in 2009/2010
An overspend has been agreed.By shifting money
around within the resources budget By using a
reserve fund set up for this very purpose We
cannot get additional funding this financial year
so will have to monitor carefully .
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Planning for 2010
Looking more critically at usage stats Review all
serials spend to identify cuts in titles across
the board, not just BDs We might need to look at
cancelling Big Deals but are unsure of what
viable alternatives there are publishers are
offering nothing and seem confused as to why we
are asking!
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Looking ahead the next 3 years
Likely to have to cut back, and this will be done
looking at usage primarily. Will depend entirely
on the University's decisions about our recurrent
budget. Cancellation of big deals could be a
possibility! We will probably do one or other of
these options depending on the available budget.
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What is driving you to reduce Big Deal
expenditure?
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How could the Big Deal be improved?
Lower price caps One year deals Opt out clauses
We should be able to remove content/reduce fees
for subject areas of no interest to an institution
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Additional Comments (1)

• As a rapidily growing University, starting new
  departments, and expanding into new areas of
  research and teaching in existing departments,
  BDs have enabled us to provide far more content
  that would have been possible with individual
  subscriptions
• For us they have been good, despite all the
  problems because we are relatively small. Hence
  the bang we get for our buck is quite good
• Cant really imagine life without them!

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Additional Comments (2)

• One absolutely critical factor will be how far
  the publishers are prepared to reduce price
  increases. Many present price caps are too high
  for the changed circumstances. If publishers do
  not alter tack radically I suspect they will see
  significant withdrawal from big deal
  arrangements.
• There is a lot that Publishers can do to make
  Big Deals more attractive to Libraries, the
  challenge is getting them to recognise that this
  is something they need to do. However the
  honeymoon is over. We can see the flaws as well
  as the benefits of the current Big Deal
  structure. The financial challenges we all face
  should provide the necessary impetus or catalyst
  for change.

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Additional Comments (3)

• Publishers seem absolutely wedded to them and
  have not yet engaged with the issues facing
  Universities. I was actually told by one account
  manager that we had probably benefited from the
  exchange rate changes in other areas of the
  University where funding was received in
  dollars!!! Get real!

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Conclusions

• Survey suggests that whilst there are still
  reasonable levels of satisfaction with BDs there
  is a growing agenda for CHANGE
• Whilst Big Deals may have held up well in 2009,
  they are not immune from the economic factors
  that are forcing us to make further savings from
  2010
• There is a perception amongst libraries that
  publishers are not attuned to their customers
  feelings of discontent and are not making much
  effort to address them
• It is high time that the BD model was revisited
  it cannot continue as it is but perhaps it will
  take a major round of cancellations to make
  publishers it up and take notice
• Would be much better to take the initiative and
  respond NOW!

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Adapt and Survive!
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Thank you for your attention

• Jill Taylor-Roe
• Newcastle University
• Jill.Taylor-Roe_at_ncl.ac.uk

With thanks to my colleagues, Cliff Spencer and
Mark Gavillet for their input to my slides