Senate addresses financial concerns with University library systems | The Journal

"The key issue, she argued, is that the University libraries spend 44 per cent of their budget on only five major publishers, who require universities to buy their entire collection of journals should they be interested even in only one. This practice can cost upwards of $1 million per year, with costs increasing annually. Whitehead explained that, after surveying Queen’s researchers, there was great concern that “scholarly publishing is being controlled by commercial interest.” According to her, these difficulties could indicate a progression towards open access journals, as many librarians feel “the system is broken.” Queen’s professors and researchers will be asked to partake in a survey this week, in which they will list the top 10 or 15 academic journals that they use, in order for the libraries to get a sense of how to prioritize collections...."