Project Announcement: Cancelling the Big Deal | Ithaka S+R

"As Big Deal spending has come to occupy a greater and greater share of materials budgets, libraries are increasingly questioning the status quo of their Big Deal subscriptions. Recent years have seen a number of prominent cancellations, precipitated by questions about the value of the subscription materials. In 2020 we expect this trend to continue with libraries becoming increasingly assertive in their negotiating stance with publishers. This may yield some interesting compromise agreements, but it potentially will lead to more libraries cancelling Big Deals. This brings up a range of questions about how users can continue to access scholarly materials in this rapidly shifting resource landscape. 

In May 2020 Ithaka S+R will launch a study in collaboration with a cohort of libraries to explore the impact of Big Deal cancellations on users, strategies for accessing content, and perceptions of the library’s role in providing access. In this post we share the project’s goals, the preliminary roster of library partners, and how additional libraries–perhaps yours!–can get involved...."