From: "Hamaker, Charles" <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:23:06 +0000

We’ve just received notification from our subscription agent that our
annual cost for APS-ALL will jump from a little less than $12,000
(including our service fee to our vendor) to almost $16,000 next year.
About a 35% increase if my approximate math is correct. It is because
we have been “reclassed “ to a tier 2 institution.

But our usage has declined over the last three years, by about 30%
from its 2011 high.  Is there any way our USAGE makes us look like a
Research Intensive University in the areas covered by APS titles? I
would suggest it does not. Like most institutions our researchers and
faculty have developed specialty interests often combined with
engineering and other inter-disciplinary interests. Our Physicists
(and I suspect we are not alone in this) here need SOME of what APS
does, not all.  They do use a respectable amount of APS articles over
the whole range of the  years provided on the website, but if APS gave
us per year access data, I suspect not even half of what we download
is current year. And we also pay for PROLA.

Our faculty  work collaboratively with others on campus in many
cutting edge areas, but APS titles don’t much match their exact needs,
particularly two of the titles C and D. Does APS not recognize that
though we’d LIKE to provide access to all their journals, in fact, our
use is such that we don’t NEED all their titles, that we were making a
 judgment based on TRUST and RESPECT, honoring APS and its importance
to the whole Physics research community as much as on use at our
institution?

In committing to their “package” we were making a statement of trust
and appreciation. This  pricing increase does not strengthen that
trust.  We are participating in SCOAP3 because of similar beliefs, not
because our campus community is involved in HEP directly. We believe
in supporting good science, cost effective and responsive and believe
in the importance of strong independent societies and associations
actively participating in the scholarly enterprise. We value APS
because of who you are and what you represent as well as your
contribution to good science.  Even when campus interests might not
align precisely with specific journals at APS we have opted to
continue. APS you have undercut our trust.

Did APS costs increase 35%? Did the CPI JUMP and I didn’t hear about
it?  Is there some phantasmagorical Elsevier level reasoning
transported via time warp from the 1980’s that justifies this for my
institution ? Has APS been reading the news about funding in state
institutions?

APS has some very serious explaining to do. We would very much like to
cancel part of the package as a protest to this cavalier behavior on
the part of a trusted and respected publisher. But they have probably
rigged their pricing so it’s MORE costly to go to individual titles
than to continue at their outrageously increased rate.

Chuck Hamaker