NCSU Libraries Focus Online

Volume 24 number 3 - Spring 2004

After months of rigorous but unsuccessful efforts to negotiate a fair and economically appropriate consortial license agreement, the three member universities of the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) that participated in an initial license for the Elsevier Science journals four years ago have elected not to renew that license. Beginning January 1, 2004, each of these libraries (NC State, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Duke) will subscribe individually to Elsevier journals, including print and electronic access as needed for its users. The NCSU Libraries will continue to provide electronic and print access to the large number of Elsevier titles required by its community of users, as well as speedy and convenient retrieval for those titles not served by a direct subscription.

Background: For the past four years, the NCSU Libraries, through TRLN, has licensed electronic access to serial titles published by Reed Elsevier under a variety of imprints including Elsevier Science and Academic Press. These titles were available through the Elsevier electronic interface ScienceDirect. The TRLN consortial license provided electronic access to 715 subscriptions for NC State and electronic access to 533 titles subscribed to by the partner TRLN institutions. The ScienceDirect contract expired December 31, 2003.

The primary issues in the renewal consortial license offered to the TRLN Libraries were: the license required a three-year contract period that contained an annual 7 percent price increase, did not allow any cancellations, bundled necessary titles with titles not particularly needed by NCSU faculty, and was based upon a past subscription level that did not reflect the NCSU Libraries' planned cancellation of eighty Elsevier titles effective upon expiration of the 2003 license. Thus, to accept this license, the NCSU Libraries would have had to renew its subscriptions to the eighty targeted titles that had been identified by NC State faculty as appropriate for cancellation. Other TRLN libraries faced a similar situation.

Process: As it became apparent that Elsevier would not respond in a constructive fashion to the TRLN libraries' legitimate concerns over increasing costs and the inability to cancel titles to manage the appropriateness of the collection, the NCSU Libraries sought the guidance of the NC State community. The Libraries is committed to consulting with its users on major decisions and directions. In this instance, the University Library Committee (ULC), chaired by Assistant Professor of Microbiology Michael Hyman, facilitated the consultation. Working with the ULC, the Libraries developed and implemented a plan to educate, inform, and involve the NC State community in decisions concerning the proposed renewal of the TRLN consortial license for ScienceDirect. A specially developed Web site provided in-depth information on the background and issues. Informational meetings and presentations were held with faculty and graduate student departmental library representatives, as well as with more than twenty-five academic departments. Additionally, the TRLN ScienceDirect situation was featured on the agendas of the Student Senate, the University Graduate Student Association, the Staff Senate, and the Faculty Senate. The Faculty and Student senates adopted resolutions in support of rejecting the Elsevier proposal to TRLN.

In particular, the NC State user community understood and endorsed the NCSU Libraries' collection principles that emphasize flexibility and responsiveness to user needs. It is critical, particularly in tight budget times, that the Libraries control its collecting decisions at the title level to meet the teaching and research needs of its community. Elsevier's ScienceDirect consortial offer to TRLN did not accommodate either the need for flexibility in managing the collections or the library's inability to devote a steadily increasing proportion of its budget to satisfy Elsevier's annual inflation rate.

In a memorandum to the TRLN community, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor James Oblinger of NC State, Provost Peter Lange of Duke University, and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Robert Shelton of UNC-Chapel Hill stated that

"The breakdown of negotiation with Elsevier is only the most extreme symptom of a much larger problem. Academic libraries across the country have faced escalating costs to sustain the scholarly communication system for years. The Association of Research Libraries reports that, over the past fifteen years, serial costs for member libraries have increased 215% while the Consumer Price Index has increased by only 62%. Although libraries and universities are supporting new publishing models in an effort to maintain access to high-quality, peer-reviewed research at a manageable cost, there is still a reliance on the products of for-profit publishers. As a result of this dynamic, libraries can no longer offer the same range of publications to the academic community."

The NCSU Libraries firmly believes that universities must respond to the economic crisis affecting scholarly communication. Libraries must be empowered, through dialogue with the university community, to obtain appropriate research materials without sacrificing content and budgetary decisions to publishers. Future library negotiations should follow the principles adhered to in this particular process, so that libraries make collection decisions and manage costs.

Overall, TRLN's rejection of Elsevier's ScienceDirect offer was clearly the most fiscally responsible and best response in terms of both the short- and long-term needs of the institutions. It is not, however, without its negative consequences, which include the loss of immediate electronic access to Elsevier titles only subscribed to by TRLN members other than NC State. Additionally, the nonconsortial or individual subscription rate imposed for Elsevier titles is substantially higher than the consortial rate and has required off-setting cancellations by NC State. Nevertheless, the remaining budget savings combined with the collection management control achieved allows the NCSU Libraries to meet user needs more efficiently. This includes the acquisition of important materials from other publishers such as scholarly societies and university presses.

The NCSU Libraries will continue to subscribe, both in print and electronically, to approximately 600 to 700 Elsevier titles most required by its faculty, researchers, and students. Those materials not available electronically will be retrieved for users via a newly developed, Web-based retrieval service that will provide articles within twenty-four to forty-eight hours at no cost to the requester. University students, faculty, and staff may make requests from the "E-Journal Finder," library catalog, subject databases via the "Full Text" button, or at www.lib.ncsu.edu/ads/ils/elsevier-delivery.html.

The ability to provide ready access to information is a very high priority for the NCSU Libraries. The erosion of access to research materials is a valid concern. Inflation in the costs of serial publications such as journals has exceeded 215 percent over the last fifteen years, which places great pressure on managing the library budget. The NCSU Libraries recognizes that open, ongoing dialogue and communication with the campus community is essential in making the right decisions for the collection and thanks everyone for their invaluable interest, participation, and support.