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From the Licencing Battlefield

Consortia as middlemen between publishers, agents and libraries.

A view from the Continent

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Consortia everywhere

ICOLC EuropeNational and Regional ConsortiaInstitutional ConsortiaGrowing interconsortial cooperation (KE, http://www.knowledge-exchange.info/ and SELL, http://heal-l.physics.auth.gr/SELL/ )Variety of external and internal organisationVariety in governance and decision makingVariety in size and coherence

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The Role of Government

If Large: larger scale, broader coverage, more decision making power

If Small: smaller scale, more focus, more internal dynamics

Examples: JISC, FinElib, Bibsam, DEFF versus UKB (Dutch universities), SHB (Dutch Polytechnics), VOWB (Belgium),

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Different needs

Universities: Much/Everything, broad, international, high level

Polytechnics: Mothertongue material, applied science, selective, focussed

Research Institutes: High level, international, but selective, focussed, often not in consortia

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Sources of Conflicts

Cost division

Differences in size and nature

Lack of Transparency and Flexibility

Adherence to historic spends

Inability to break away from printed based concepts

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Disappearing titles

When a journal changes publishers

When a publisher discontinues titles

When a society chooses to change its policy

Sticking to habits and solutions of the past

An opportunity for Agents once again?

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The Subscription Agent in Big Deal times

The difficulty of simplifying complexity

Purchase and licence without intermediary

Purchase and licence on consortial level

What’s new? Negotiations!

The issue at stake: the price of content

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Big deals and their Drawbacks

Much better value for money, but:Big deals are inflexibleBig deals are in the long run expensiveBig Deals squeeze out small publishersBig Deal pricing is intransparent and incomparableBig Deal Pricing is mainly based on irrelevant figures from the past

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The JISC Survey

Survey 2005 by Rightscom Ltd among librarians and publishers (http://www.nesli2.ac.uk)

Priorities of librarians: widest access; financial predictability; reduced costsPriorities of publishers: continuity; predictability; simplicity

NB. Simplicity is not a librarians priority?

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The Publisher’s Perspective

PPV is endlessly flexible

PPV is ultimately transparant

PPV is a perfect alternative for outdated models

PPV is a perfect instrument for cost division

Above all: usage is always going up!!

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PPV models

Usage Based Pricing/PPV PPV models tend to be complicatedJISC: PPV converting into subscription; Core collection + PPV for peripheral contentPPV is hidden Price Increase DriverDoes PPV really increase flexibility and/or reduce costs??

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Presuppositions for UBP

Usage has a calculable value

User must decide to use or not to use

User has to pay for usage

Usage can be controlled: attributed to (groups of) customers, eventually restricted

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What we don’t know about usage

Who is using what? And Why?

Does usage somehow reflect relevance?

Does usage somehow reflect value?

Why is usage increasing year after year?

How do users deal with information? To what effect?

Is information becoming a volatile, omnipresent commodity?

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Why UBP is not compatible with the nature of the library

We don’t want to restrict access but to encourage usage

We don’t want to measure and monitor usage

The usage of library materials is not sufficiently uniform and relevant to connect with pricing

UBP does not improve transparency nor, probably, reduce costs

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A model for the ranking of relevance

Pricing should reflect:

the nature of the product

the relevance of the product for a specific customer

The relative buying power of that customer

The total spends of a customer

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Question 1: Who are you?

Are you a (very) big/medium/(very) small:

Research University

Research Institute

Teaching University/Polytechnic

Other kind of Institute

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Question 2: What do you want?

Do you want: Access to a single title: list price Access to a (subject) bundle: addition of reduced list pricesAccess to a full portfolio: addition of further reduced list prices

NB. But what will be the list price? And why?

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Question 3: Where do you live?

Buying power: mainly a matter of location

Starting Point: GDP (or similar) per country

Taking into account: division of wealth within the country

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An Example

Suppose: Title x = $ 1000 average in the US

Nature/Size big medium small

Research U/I 2000 1000 500

Teaching U 500 250 125

Polytechnic 200 100 50

Price to be corrected for location

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Questions to be answered

Are such models realistic from an administrative perspective?

Are publishers prepared to develop this kind of models?

Can librarians may be of help?

Can Agents play a role here?

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Why don’t publishers develop pay per view for individual customers for a price that is equivalent with the Document Delivery rates that

libraries are charging?

Thank you