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 Overview
For more than a decade,
prices for science journals have increased at rates far above general
inflation. These exorbitant prices, combined with static or decreasing
acquisitions budgets, have created a journals crisis for university libraries,
forcing them to cancel subscriptions to scientific research journals,
to refrain from ordering new journals requested by faculty and graduate
students, and to purchase fewer books. Some of the factors contributing
to these price increases include an explosion in the amount of scientific
information published (due in part to publishing pressures within academe),
the increasing role of for-profit publishers in scholarly communication,
and the rise of electronic access to journals and indexes, which, contrary
to initial expectation, has increased costs to libraries.
For example, consider
the average subscription price of a chemistry journal:
- 1990: $638
- 2003: $2403
- Increase from 1990
to 2003: 277%
During this period,
inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index caused general prices
to rise about 36%
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Cancellations
at the University of Minnesota
The
University of Minnesota has not been immune to this crisis. Small increases
to the Libraries' budget have been far outpaced by increased costs of
materials. In addition, current budgetary pressures at the University
further complicate the situation. The Libraries' budget was reduced
in 2002/03 as the University made across-the-board rescissions to cope
with decreased funding. On the other hand, the Libraries have received
new funding from two sources: contributions from the colleges with University
matching funds totaling $250,000 in 2002/03, and $500,000 per year from
the University's patent royalties starting in 2003/04. Yet this net
increase in funding was not enough to cover journal inflation, so journals
again had to be cancelled for 2004.
A list
of journals cancelled by the Science & Engineering and Mathematics
Libraries over the past decade is available by year. The net result
is that the Science & Engineering and Mathematics Libraries cancelled
nearly 750 titles, or about a third of their entire journal collection
held in 1992:
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1992/93:
80 titles cancelled (6.8% of 1991/92)
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- 2003/04:
34 ($69,710)
- Total:
742
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Alternative
Means of Accessing Journal Articles
With a reduction in
the number of journal titles that the Science & Engineering and Mathematics
Libraries can provide, library staff are committed to providing faculty
and students with Alternative Means
of Access, through current awareness databases and document delivery
from suppliers outside the University.
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The
Need for Faculty Involvement
Faculty members concerned
about the steady erosion of library resources at the University of Minnesota
should support substantially increased funding for the Libraries, whose
level of support has not kept up with peer institutions; ask your department
chairs, deans, and committee representatives to advocate for increased
library support.
To address the fundamental
factors contributing to the crisis, there is also Action
Faculty Can Take to help improve the scholarly publishing system in
the sciences. Librarians encourage faculty members to help shape long-term
solutions and welcome your comments and questions. Please feel free to
contact Kris Fowler, Coordinator
for Science & Engineering Collections, or any of the following subject
librarians:
Frank Elliott : Aerospace, Biomedical,
Civil, and Mechanical Engineering
Gary Fouty : Computer Science
and Electrical Engineering; Interim Reference
Kris Fowler : Mathematics and
Statistics; Interim History of Science, General Science
Janice Jaguszewski : Geology and
Geophysics; interim Physics and Astronomy
Jody Kempf : Interim Chemistry
and Chemical Engineering
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