Background to the ALPSP Learned Journals Collection (in partnership with Swets)

The problem

Selling print journals was easy - the publisher set subscription rates, subscription agents passed these on to libraries, and libraries chose to subscribe or not to subscribe; that was all there was to it. Selling electronic journals, on the other hand, requires protracted and skilled discussion and negotiation; this takes time (and therefore costs money) for both sides. While this is worth while when tens or even hundreds of journals are involved, the time and effort is much the same even when the publisher only has a few journals to sell; understandably, therefore, librarians and consortia concentrate on large groupings of journals from major publishers.

A large publisher is able to offer what is sometimes called 'The Big Deal' - access to its complete collection of journals for a single negotiated rate - and studies have demonstrated that such deals can be highly beneficial to users, often substantially increasing usage of previously non-subscribed titles. However, a publisher with only a handful of journals is not in a position to offer such a package, and the additional cost of 'Big Deals' from larger publishers reduces the budget available to purchase other publishers' journals; the result is that libraries' ability to purchase high quality journals from smaller publishers is being steadily eroded, which concerns them greatly - this problem is further exacerbated by above-inflation price increases and shrinking library budgets. All publishers are seeing a steady decline in subscriptions, but often those who lose out most in the consortia environment are small but well respected (and reasonably priced) learned societies and other not-for-profit publishers.

The solution

Small publishers with only a few journals and limited sales staff cannot hope to compete on their own in the consortia market. ALPSP therefore consulted extensively with both members and libraries to identify what was needed. A combined package of journals seemed to be the answer, and survey responses indicated that a sufficient number of members would participate to make this worthwhile. We obtained a detailed report from John Cox Associates, and after a tendering process we appointed a trading partner, Swets, to sell the ALPSP Learned Journals Collection on members' behalf to academic and corporate libraries and consortia internationally.

Working with Swets and John Cox Associates, we have developed a standard publisher agreement, a standard licence for customers, and a pricing and revenue-sharing model which is fair to all. In 2008 the Full Collection contains 728 journals from 53 publishers; 9 discipline-specific subsets are available in Archaeology & History, Law, Life Sciences, Linguistics & Arts, Medicine, Religion & Philosophy, Science, Social Sciences and Technology.

Find out more

The ALJC website - www.alpsp-collection.org - contains details of how the arrangements will work, frequently asked questions, and the complete list of publishers and journals who have signed up. For any additional questions please contact Swets by phone or e-mail.

Testimonials

"There can be no doubt about how valuable such a development could be for a journals market increasingly dominated by large - and consolidating - player. This is just what trade associations are for."
Nick Dempsey, EPS

"… a real advantage for the smaller publishers"
Judy Luther, Informed Strategies

"Kudos to ALPSP for this achievement"
Ann Okerson, Yale University Library

"A very welcome development for both publishers and libraries."
Serials e-News