Walt at Random » Blog Archive » The Big Deal and the Damage Done

abernard102@gmail.com 2013-05-03

Summary:

"I’d normally say something like this about my new study of the apparent effects of serials prices over the first decade of the millennium on academic library book budgets and 'remainder' budgets (what’s left after paying for current serials and other acquisitions): 'I’m delighted to announce that The Big Deal and the Damage Done is now available as a $9.99 PDF ebook or a $16.50 paperback, both at Lulu.com (follow the links, go to the bottom of this page or just go to lulu.com and search for big deal damage).'  But I’m not entirely delighted–because the results are much worse than I’d hoped or expected ... I’m also delighted with the results–a 132-page (6×9″) non-DRM PDF ebook or trade paperback with 58 tables and 94 figures (all Excel graphs) that shows, in detail andadjusted for inflation, how academic library spending has changed between 2000 and 2010 for current serials (big deals and otherwise), 'books' (which includes all acquisitions exceptcurrent serials, including ebooks, av and back runs of serials), and 'remainder budgets,' everything it takes to run a library except for acquisitions. The book looks at academic libraries in the U.S. overall, but mostly views them in three different breakdowns: By overall budget size, by sector (e.g., public, private, for-profit, non-profit, four-year, two-year), and by Carnegie classification ... The analysis project was inspired in part by Wayne Bivens-Tatum’s January 18, 2013 post, 'Politics, Economics, and Screwing the Humanities' and in part by the work I was doing to prepare a three-hour Open Access preconference for the joint 2013 conference of the Oregon and Washington Library Associations. I see true OA as one possible medium-term way of ameliorating the damage done–with a whole bunch of caveats.  If you’re an academic librarian or concerned about the future of academic libraries, I believe you’ll find this worthwhile, but that’s your call. If it’s well-received, I’ll probably do a second edition when the 2012 NCES survey results become available.  Here’s the thing: I don’t have good ways to publicize this book, other than on this blog, in Cites & Insights, and via a tweet or two and maybe updates at Facebook and Google+. There may be academic library lists that should know about it, but it’s generally considered bad practice for an author or publisher to join lists and tout their own new books ..."

Link:

http://walt.lishost.org/2013/05/the-big-deal-and-the-damage-done/

From feeds:

Open Access Tracking Project (OATP) » abernard102@gmail.com

Tags:

oa.new oa.business_models oa.publishers oa.comment oa.universities oa.libraries oa.books oa.librarians oa.budgets oa.colleges oa.hei

Date tagged:

05/03/2013, 10:38

Date published:

05/03/2013, 06:38