Global Economic Crisis: Impact on Academic Libraries Greg Anderson

2008 & the Australian dollar ► Last 3 years been good – dollar peaked at 96 cents USD in July 2008 ► By November – value had dropped to about 60 cents USD. ► Exposure high as 75% of subscriptions in USD and 80-85% of budgets committed to subscriptions ► 2009 subscriptions renewed between October – December ► Accrual accounting – impact would be deferred to 2009/10?

Impact on budgets ► Libraries highly exposed ► Small number of libraries have reported increases – 5-18% or are accessing reserve funds or have hedged funds ► Several have anticipated cuts to subscriptions from 10-20% ► Reduced spending on monographs – up to 50%

When enough is enough? ► 2009 cost projections by Broad subject  Arts & Humanities: 9.5%30% (04-08)  Social Sciences: 9.4%38% (04-08)  Science: 8.5%40% (04-08) Overall increase: 8.7% By continent/country of origin Nth America8%(07-08) Europe9%(07-08) Australia/NZ9%(07-08)

What is ICOLC? ► 150 consortia from Nth America, Europe & the Asia Pacific ► 2 meetings per annum ► CAUL’s CEIRC – 76 institutions including all University libraries in Australia & NZ ► 2007 – $218m AUD spent by University libraries; $117m on electronic subscriptions.

ICOLC Statement ► Flexible pricing that offers customers real options, including the ability to reduce expenditures without disproportionate loss of content, will be most successful. ► It is in the best interest of both publishers and consortia to seek creative solutions that allow licences to remain as intact as possible without major content or access reductions.

GFC – impact? ► Budgets have remained flat or have been cut to 15%. ► Some institutions have withdrawn from consortia deals ► Some prices have remained flat: Ebsco, Gale, Oxford Uni, Proquest, Wilson & Bowker. ► Leverage more successful with new products rather than renewals ► Europe doing OK; Canada hit hard with 25-30% currency devaluation. Being used in negotiations.

Response from Consortia? ► California Digital Library – Value Matrix using cost increases, usage & impact factors to determine value of the deal. ► CARL – has reviewed print purchases over the last 9 years – 30 to 70% of titles not borrowed. Consortia plans for books. ► Planning cancellations, price caps (3%) rather than 5-7%. ► Evidence that the current models (based on historic spend are about to fall apart).

Publisher’s response: Elsevier ► Impact of GFC varies – Sth. Korean currency decreased by 17% but in 3 months was worth more 5% more. ► Will work with libraries to convince Administrators that they should invest more in library resources. On average 2% or less of total budgets is spent on libraries. ► Information is undervalued in terms of research ROI – Uni of Illinois $1 invested returned $4.38. ► Outsourced 5k jobs, increased # of articles submitted (500,000) 250,000 published pa, 7k editors & 70k editorial boards, kept price increases to 5-6%. ► Will not offer global discounts – will deal directly with individual institutions.

Publisher’s response: Springer ► Feeling pain due to decreased advertising revenues and reduced book sales (Amazon) ► Will maintain current system which has worked well. ► Significant costs associated with digitising content. ► Will be flexible at the institutional level. ► Hoping current situation will be temporary ► Dismissed alternative publishing models: Biomed Central – have no influence over price increases. ► Springer is not for sale but is looking for an additional shareholder to strengthen their position.

Publisher’s response – Wiley Blackwell ► Apologised for disruptions & inability to produce lists of subscriptions ► Will not offer blanket discounts but will be as flexible as possible ► “Pay more, get more; Pay less, get less.” ► Not prepared to reduce profits but also looking at reducing costs. ► Advantages of multi-year deals will be available for 1 year only deals. ► Moderate price increases are predicted ► CAUL negotiating a new 3 year deal.

Publisher’s response: APA ► GFC has reduced revenue (membership dues etc) and have reduced programs. ► APA cannot absorb significant reductions in prices (average increase is 7%) ► Will try to be flexible but limited options ► Will continue to offer products over multiple platforms.

CAUL Statement on the GEC ► Maintaining heavily used content will be the priority ► Content is more important than platform enhancements ► Contraction rather than expansion and price increases must be contained ► Reducing costs at the publisher end ► Discounts and exchange rate relief

CAUL Think tank on the GEC ► CAUL, Publishers and Content Providers working together ► Publisher’s perspective; Elsevier, Thomson, Wiley Blackwell, CSIRO, Proquest & Ebsco. ► CAUL perspective on value vs publishers ► Sustainability – David Prosser from SPARC ► Changing models - who pays?

But its not all bad… ► BURF (Better Universities Renewal Fund) ► $500m – one off grants ► Libraries and student study places ► 13 University Libraries will receive BURF funds (Newcastle $3m of the $13.5m) ► Value of the AUD increased from.62 USD in March to $.78 USD 20/5.