Accessibility of Scholarly Databases Limited by Cost - The Catalyst

" ... According to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the average library spent 273 percent more on journal subscriptions in 2004 than it did in 1986; the CPI, meanwhile, rose only 73 percent. Subscription prices have overtaken the rate of inflation at a rate of four to one. Diane Westerfield, Tutt Library’s Electronic Resources & Serials Librarian, calculates that the average price hike of these journal subscriptions has increased an average of 21.67 percent per year since 1997. The dynamic between libraries and journal publishing companies leaves libraries with very little leverage. Westerfield explained that libraries are mainly at the mercy of the professors, and professors at a high-end institution like Colorado College demand the most prestigious and relevant journal titles. Journals realize this, and, as a result, demand exorbitant fees ... Despite most of the research behind their content being funded by tax dollars, it is not unusual for the largest of these companies, such as Springer or Taylor & Francis, to have profit margins exceeding 30 percent. Meanwhile, the average profit margin for a large private company was only 8.6 percent in 2014, according to Forbes.  Those like Westerfield view these margins, along with the fact that certain companies like Elsevier, which had a profit margin of 37 percent in 2014, pay researchers nothing for their articles, as unjust.  Library budgets have failed to keep up with these ever-rising costs, and some have even slashed budgets amidst shrinking funding. Though Tutt Library has been spared from these budget cuts, they have been operating at a loss, in large part due to journal costs ... Tutt pays for two types of subscriptions: EBSCONET subscriptions, which are 'selected journal, magazine and journal subscriptions from various vendors,' and subscriptions to major eJournal packages.  These include only big-name, big-cost services, like Science Direct or Wiley. Tutt has canceled many EBSCONET subscriptions, as most EBSCONET content is included within the eJournal packages. Major eJournal subscription costs, however, have risen precipitously since 2005, outstripping any costs saved from unsubscribing to EBSCONET resources.  Westerfield estimates the overall cost of journal subscriptions to be roughly $900,000, almost a third of Tutt’s $1.5 million budget. The college has thus far covered these costs, but the library is uncertain how long this charity will last ..."