From: "Hamaker, Charles" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 03:05:59 +0000

Joe, this basically cannot be answered, as the answer depends a great
deal on what kinds of "deals" have been struck between a specific
library or consortium  and key publishers.

My experience with the biggies is my library's cost can be as much as
a 50% discount or more - sometimes much more, off other libraries
pricing. for current journals, and we in fact are paying a premium
compared to other institutions for most of those deals.

There is no generic price when I pay 5$00,000 and someone else pays
$1.5 million (true situation) for the same major publisher package.

Similarly with backfiles, pricing is all over the map. I've seen as
low as 75% off "list" or more for some bacfkiles depending on loyalty
discounts, time of year discounts, sales promotions, you name it.
Size of current purchase.  And another institution struggles to get a
decent discount on the same package.

And size of institution makes  a definite difference for all sorts of
"deals."  What Davidson pays for the same package UNC Charlotte
purchases may be driven by enrollment, or by budget. or some other
factor a sale rep gets the company to agree to. It may be no more than
the provider not wanting to leave anything on the table.

I've negotiated a price, then discovered I was short 20%  for a back
file, because our funding dried up or didn't come through - and gotten
the provider to go with my ability to pay rather than lose the sale.
Year over year commitments with consortia tend to be more "stable" but
still all over the map if you are talking about a community college
vs. a large academic library.

So what kind of library are you talking about, what are the
negotiation skills of the  librarians or the consortia, how bad does
the provider want the sale, how flexible are they, will they do a
multi year (many will base pricing going forward on the current sale
price, even when it's well below "list"?

As you can tell from this, NDAs don't really work. If a librarian
wants to find out what someone else paid, there's usually a way.

There is no price you can quote for this question.

And ebooks: that's a whole 'nuther kettle of fish!

Chuck Hamaker

________________________________________
From: Joseph Esposito <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2015 10:46:56 -0500

I am hoping that the members of this list can assist in furthering a
conversation I have been having with a colleague.

The question is, How much would it cost to purchase a digital copy of
every single peer-reviewed journal published in one year?

The follow-on question is, How much would it cost to purchase all the
backfiles in digital form, assuming they are all available?

I have in mind journals in all fields.  Does anyone have an idea of
how much this would come to?

Joe Esposito