Periodicals Price Survey 2011: Under Pressure, Times Are Changing

"There’s no way to sugarcoat the impact higher serials prices have on the information marketplace, or the dire state of funding for libraries. Libraries are no longer in a position of having to cut low-use journals in order to make room for high-use ones; instead, they are now being forced to cancel heavily used, even essential subscriptions, much to the dismay of their patrons....During the recession there was a reduction in cost for most commodities and goods --with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropping in 2009 and only increasing 1.6 percent in 2010. During that same period, serials prices continued to rise at well above the CPI (four to five percent)....Between 2009 and 2010, data from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) showed a slight decrease of $37,000 annually in the average expenditures for serials. Considering that price inflation would have required a four to five percent increase to hold subscriptions steady, obviously, serials were cancelled...."