Description

Library Technology Reports (vol. 50 no. 4) When serials publishers first offered Big Deals to academic libraries, they seemed to many to be win-win-win situations. But while Big Deals did appear to lower the rate of serials price inflation, they did not bring it down to manageable levels--and in the process, they limited academic library flexibility. This issue of Library Technology Reports (vol. 50, no. 4) describes a study that looks at the apparent damage caused by Big Deals over the period from 2002 (when most had been introduced) to 2012, specifically looking at details of acquisitions money for books and other acquisitions by type and size of library. Some possible approaches to improving the situation appear in the final chapter.