The “Big Deal”: A Survey of How Libraries Are Responding and What the Alternatives Are

Judging Big Deals: Challenges, Outcomes, and Advice

“…In addition to the literature outlined above, two recent surveys suggest that libraries have mixed feelings about Big Deals. Carlson and Pope (2009) found that while the Big Deal has been great deal for some, it has been less wonderful for others. Similarly, Taylor-Roe (2009) conducted a survey that found that 50% of respondents were still happy with their library's Big Deals and 50% were not.…”

Democratising the knowledge commons: The shared goals of open and community-engaged scholarship

“…The practice was commonly known as 'the Big Deal' and was generally taken up enthusiastically by libraries which saw a way to exponentially increase their library's holdings and offer the convenience of online access to their patrons. However, the Big Deal had far higher overall costs than the previous practice of purchasing title by title -even though the average cost per title was drastically reduced -and removed flexibility in library budgets (Carlson & Pope 2009;Frazier 2001;Friend 2003;Poynder 2011). Corporate academic publishers often took advantage of the new monopolistic hold they had on libraries through sharp annual price increases to maintain these online journal collections (Ball 2004;Dingley 2002Dingley -2005Fortney & Basile 1998;Kronenfeld & Schlimgen 2004).…”

What Librarians Can Learn from Cable Television: Thoughts on Transformative Business Models and Their Impact on the Business of Libraries

“…Despite frequent talk of breaking the big deal, very few libraries seem to have found ways to actually make it happen. A 2009 survey revealed that when asked how libraries handled cancellations within mutiyear deals, the two most common answers were "we don't cancel big deals" and "we don't accept multi-year contracts," leading the authors to conclude that, once entrenched within a big deal, most libraries are reluctant to break it (Carlson & Pope, 2009). The available accounts of libraries that have successfully dismantled their big deals often find those libraries opting instead for a kind of "medium deal" that is less comprehensive and restrictive than the traditional big deal, but still has comes with strings attached.…”