From: "Swindler, Luke" <[log in to unmask]> Date: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 13:17:08 +0000 As others have indicated, the two questions of “How much would it cost to purchase a digital copy of every single peer-reviewed journal published in one year?” and “How much would it cost to purchase all the backfiles in digital form, assuming they are all available?” cannot be answered because no standard prices prevail. Whereas a major serials database such as EBSCONET or Ulrich’s could provide list prices for peer-reviewed e-journals on a title-by-title basis, these figures do not represent what libraries pay in the real world. Because of package deals, wide variances exist among not only research institutions but also especially between them and small colleges (which literally pay pennies on the dollar). Similarly, digital journal backfiles have huge price variances—with major discounts available for buying entire subject collections. Moreover, even their en bloc cost can vary depending on an institution’s previous acquisitions, e.g., a major STEM publisher recently offered UNC a 75% discount on the e-journals archival packages not owned since it already had paid nearly $2M to purchase the bulk of those available. Finally, actual prices vary still more when institutions make acquisitions via consortia rather than acting individually. Luke Swindler ******************************************************************************* Luke Swindler Collections Management Officer Davis Library CB #3918 [log in to unmask] University of North Carolina TEL (919-962-1095) Chapel Hill, NC 27514 USA FAX (919-962-4450) *************************************************“*****************************