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