INTERNATIONAL COALITION OF LIBRARY CONSORTIA (ICOLC)
Statement on the Global Economic Crisis and Its
Impact on Consortial Licenses
Written on behalf of the
many library consortia across the world that participate in the ICOLC, this statement
has two purposes. It is intended to help
publishers and other content providers from whom we license electronic
information resources (hereafter simply referred to as publishers) understand
better how the current unique financial crisis affects the worldwide
information community. Its second
purpose is to suggest a range of approaches that we believe are in the mutual
best interest of libraries and the providers of information services.
The ICOLC library consortia
consider the current crisis of such significance that we cannot simply assume
that libraries and publishers share a common perspective about the magnitude of
the crisis and the best approaches to cope with it. ICOLC members have been exchanging
perspectives about how the current economic recession will impact consortia and
their libraries. We make the following
forecasts about the impact of this crisis on libraries and library consortia.
1. We expect significant and widespread cuts in
budget levels for libraries and consortia:
reductions unlike the sporadic or regional episodes experienced from
year to year, with real and permanent reductions to base budgets. It may not be uncommon for library and
consortia budgets to decline by double digits year over year. We have yet to see the full effects, as many
2009 journal and database subscriptions have already been renewed. As of late 2008, many institutions have
declared significant budgets cuts in all areas (content, staff, and operations)
for 2009. Some consortia are
experiencing significant economic impact in the current fiscal year; by
calendar and fiscal 2010, the cuts will be in full force and widespread.
2. These cuts will be prolonged. The public and education sectors will likely
lag in funding recovery. Once funding is
withdrawn over multiple years, it will be years before budgets climb back
toward pre-crisis levels.
3. Exchange rate fluctuations are complicating
and in some cases amplifying the impact.
We encourage publishers to
recognize these fundamentally different circumstances as we work together for
the benefit of all parties. Library
consortia are uniquely positioned to be the most effective and efficient means
to preserve the customer base for publishers and create solutions that provide
the greatest good for the greatest number.
By working together, publishers and consortia can create the most
effective pricing and renewal options and maintain the broadest base of
subscribing libraries and services.
While we cannot be
prescriptive where solutions are concerned, we suggest the following principles
and techniques as likely to be the most effective approaches.
Principle 1:
Flexible pricing that offers customers real options, including the
ability to reduce expenditures without disproportionate loss of content, will
be the most successful. In stable times, standardized pricing and terms may
work relatively well. Today, purchasers
will be under heavy pressure to reduce their outlays and need solutions that
let them do so while continuing to offer as much content and service as
possible. It is in the publisher’s best
interest that we avoid all-or-nothing, take-it-or-leave-it decisions and
options, whose lack of flexibility is likely to result in far greater damage
than is absolutely necessary.
Principle 2:
It is in the best interest of both publishers and consortia to seek
creative solutions that allow licenses to remain as intact as possible, without
major content or access reductions. Content, once discontinued, will be very
difficult to reinstate at a later date. While there may be practical limits to
this principle, publishers, authors, scholars, and libraries will be best
served by those solutions that retain as much access to as much content as
possible.
With these two principles in
mind, we suggest the following approaches:
1. Purchasers
will trade features for price; that is, we
can do without costly new interfaces and features. This is not a time for new products. Marketing efforts for new products will have
only limited effects, if any at all.
Libraries will have few if any resources to invest in new titles or more
content elements. Publishers who work
with the scholarly communities to understand what content is critically needed
will be the most successful.
2. Putting
price first will help all parties, because budget pressures will drive decisions
in a way never seen before. Real price
reductions will be welcomed and can help to sustain relationships through the
hard times.
Even increases at inflation
levels will not be supportable by many groups and libraries. Other approaches and options must be considered
and made available. Some options may be
uniquely created to take advantage of local situations. Therefore:
3. Tailoring
content to need and pricing accordingly can be very helpful. For example, customized approaches that
look to usage patterns as the basis for an adjustment may be equitable for all
parties. In the case of tiered pricing
schedules, applying this flexibly to core content packages in combination with
more affordable pricing for single titles may create another affordable
option. Multiple, creative options are
needed so that library consortia can work with their members to fashion the
optimal purchase level.
4. Multi-year
contracts will be possible only with clear opt-out and/or reduction clauses. As difficult as these clauses can be, the
only alternative for many institutions will be year-to-year (or even shorter
term) licenses. These increase the
administrative overheads for all parties and may encourage further
reductions. Additionally, opt-out
clauses must as well recognize the need for a flexible set of reduction
techniques that avoid penalizing customers in either the long or short term.
5. While
annual payments currently are the most prevalent payment schedule for group licenses,
options will be needed for semi-annual or quarterly payment schedules, in
combination with more flexible opt-out/reduction clauses and renewal cycles. Libraries and consortia may have very little
warning of changes in their budgets.
Payment options are a necessary precaution in light of rapidly changing
financial circumstances and expectations.
* * *
In combination, we suggest
these approaches as a way to advance the conversations among libraries,
consortia and publishers, who all hope to preserve existing relationships,
provide as much information to users, and generate as much business as budgets
will allow. We believe our
recommendations provide a solid foundation for the information community,
including the publishers of scholarly information, to go forward together in
these difficult times.
The current situation may in
the long term serve as a catalyst that challenges publishers, scholars and
libraries to create a system that will more efficiently produce and disseminate
the growing output of global scholarship.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THIS
STATEMENT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Faye Abrams, OCUL Projects Officer, Ontario Council of University
Libraries, 416-978-4211, faye.abrams@ocul.on.ca
Ivy Anderson, Director, Collections, California Digital Library,
Diane Costello, Executive Officer, CAUL
(Council of
+61 2 6125 2990, diane.costello@caul.edu.au
Ed McBride, Chief Marketing &
Outreach Officer, SOLINET,
Hazel Woodward,
University Librarian and Director of the University Press,
Adopters of This Statement
This statement
is adopted in principle by member representatives of consortia of the
"International Coalition of Library Consortia" (ICOLC) that are
listed below.
As of January 20, 2009 (this statement with updates to this
list will be posted periodically to http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia
)
|
CAUL (Council of Australian University
Librarians) |
Australia |
|
Electronic Resources
Australia |
Australia |
|
UNILINC Limited |
Australia |
|
Austrian Academic Consortium (Kooperation
E-Medien Oesterreich) |
Austria |
|
Bibliothèque
interuniversitaire de la communauté française de Belgique -
Belgium |
Belgium |
|
Flemish Research Libraries Council (VOWB) |
Belgium |
|
Bibliocentre |
Canada |
|
BC Electronic
Library Network |
Canada |
|
Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) |
Canada |
|
Conférence des recteurs et des principaux des
universités du Québec(Conference of Rectors and Principals of Universities of
Quebec) - CREPUQ |
Canada |
|
Council of Atlantic University Libraries |
Canada |
|
Council of Prairie and Pacific University
Libraries (COPPUL) |
Canada |
|
Health Science
Information Consortium of Toronto |
Canada |
|
OCUL (Ontario Council of University Libraries) |
Canada |
|
Saskatchewan Multitype Database Licensing
Program |
Canada |
|
Denmark's Electronic Research Library, DEFF |
Denmark |
|
FinELib |
Finland |
|
COUPERIN (Consortium universitaire des
publications numériques) |
France |
|
HEAL-Link (HELLENIC ACADEMIC LIBRARIES Link) |
Greece |
|
JULAC (Joint Universities Librarians Advisory
Committee) |
Hong Kong |
|
Iceland Consortium |
Iceland |
|
MALMAD – Israel Inter-University Center for Digital Information Services |
Israel |
|
Conference of the Italian Rectors - Electronic Resources
Working Group |
Italy |
|
Coordinamento Interuniversitario Basi dati
& Editoria in Rete (CIBER) |
Italy |
|
INFER - Italian Forum on Electronic Resources |
Italy |
|
Lebanese Academic Library Consortium (LALC) |
Lebanon |
|
Lithuanian Research Library Consortium |
Lithuania |
|
eIFL.net |
Multi-national |
|
Consortium of Dutch University Libraries and
the National Library (UKB) |
Netherlands |
|
ABM-utvikling (The Norwegian Archive.
Library and Museum Authority) |
Norway |
|
Norwegian Health Library Consortium, The |
Norway |
|
PFSL (Poznan Foundation of Scientific
Libraries) |
Poland |
|
Fundação para a
Computação Ciêntifica Nacional (FCCN) |
Portugal |
|
NEICON |
Russia |
|
Centralna tehniska knjiznica Univerze v
Ljubljani (The Central Technological Library at the University of Ljubljana) |
Slovenia |
|
COSEC (Consortium of Slovenian Electronic
Collections) |
Slovenia |
|
CBUC-Consorci de Biblioteques Universitàries
de Catalunya / Consortium of Academic Libraries of Catalonia |
Spain |
|
BIBSAM |
Sweden |
|
Consortium of Swiss Academic Libraries |
Switzerland |
|
CONCERT - CONsortium on Core Electronic
Resources in Taiwan |
Taiwan |
|
ANKOS (Anatolian University Library
Consortium) |
Turkey |
|
TUBITAK ULAKBIM EKUAL |
Turkey |
|
JISC Collections |
United Kingdom |
|
Reference Task Group (RTG) of the Co-South Consortium |
United Kingdom |
|
ALI (Academic Libraries of Indiana) |
USA |
|
ALICE (Adventist Library
Information Cooperative) |
USA |
|
Amigos Library Services |
USA |
|
Arizona Universities Library Consortium (AULC) |
USA |
|
Boston Library Consortium, Inc. |
USA |
|
Califa Library Group |
USA |
|
California Digital Library (CDL) |
USA |
|
California State University – Systemwide
Electronic Information Resources |
USA |
|
CARLI (Consortium of Academic and Research
Libraries in Illinois) |
USA |
|
Carolina Consortium, The |
USA |
|
City University of
New York |
USA |
|
College Center for Library Automation |
USA |
|
Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries |
USA |
|
Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC) |
USA |
|
Community College Library
Consortium (CCLC) |
USA |
|
Cooperating
Libraries in Consortium (CLIC) |
USA |
|
Federation of Kentucky Academic Libraries (FoKAL) |
USA |
|
Florida Center for Library Automation |
USA |
|
GALILEO |
USA |
|
Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) |
USA |
|
INFOhio - The Information Network for Ohio
Schools |
USA |
|
LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network |
USA |
|
Maine InfoNet |
USA |
|
Maryland Digital Library |
USA |
|
Michigan Library Consortium |
USA |
|
MINITEX Library Information Network |
USA |
|
Missouri Library Network Corporation (MLNC) |
USA |
|
MOBIUS Consortium (Missouri) |
USA |
|
NC LIVE |
USA |
|
NELINET |
USA |
|
NELLCO |
USA |
|
NERL (NorthEast Research Libraries Consortium) |
USA |
|
Network of Alabama Academic Libraries |
USA |
|
Nevada Academic Library Consortium (NCAL) |
USA |
|
New York State Higher
Education Initiative |
USA |
|
New York Three Rs Association |
USA |
|
Nylink |
USA |
|
OhioLINK (Ohio Library and Information
Network) |
USA |
|
OHIONET |
USA |
|
OPLIN (Ohio Public Library Information
Network) |
USA |
|
Orbis Cascade Alliance |
USA |
|
PALINET |
USA |
|
PASCAL (Partnership Among South Carolina
Academic Libraries) |
USA |
|
Pennsylvania Academic Library Consortium,
Inc. (PALCI) |
USA |
|
SAALCK (State Assisted Academic Library
Council of Kentucky) |
USA |
|
SCELC, the Statewide California Electronic
Library Consortium |
USA |
|
SOLINET |
USA |
|
Tenn-Share |
USA |
|
TexShare |
USA |
|
Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) |
USA |
|
University of Missouri Library System |
USA |
|
University of Texas System Digital Library |
USA |
|
Virtual Academic Library Environment of New
Jersey (VALE) |
USA |
|
VIVA (The Virtual Library of Virginia) |
USA |
|
Washington Research Library Consortium (WRLC) |
USA |
|
Washington State Cooperative Library Project |
USA |
|
WiLS (Wisconsin Library Services) |
USA |
About the International Coalition of
Library Consortia (ICOLC)
The International Coalition
of Library Consortia (ICOLC) has been in existence since 1996. The Coalition is an international, informal
group currently comprising approximately 200 library consortia in North and
More information
about ICOLC can be found at http://www.library.yale.edu/consortia
or contact Tom Sanville, Executive
Director, OhioLINK,