Bundled Journals Package Contract Negotiations Benchmarks

The study presents data from 37 libraries and consortia, predominantly research university libraries, about their experiences in negotiating bundled packages of journal subscriptions with major publishers. The report gives detailed information on which librarians by work title play the primary role in negotiations, the role of others in the organization, such as legal counsel, and spending on negotiation training. The study also looks at the provisions of contracts, providing data on the percentage of contracts with financial distress cancellation clauses, with title swapping privileges, provisions for perpetual access, and use of non-disclosure agreements and other contract terms. In addition, the report looks at the role of consortia, and the impact on negotiating leverage of the growing use of open access sources and developments in inter-library loan. It also presents librarian self-assessment of their own negotiating skills, and the ease or difficulty in obtaining concessions from journal publishers, in the past, and in the future. Just a few of the report’s many findings are that: Fifty-one per cent of respondents said their library or consortia had negotiated content swapping arrangements which enable the license holder to substitute one set of journals or other form of content for another during the course of a contract. Five percent of research university libraries sampled had paid for webinars to enhance their librarian’s negotiating skills. Libraries with journal spending of less than $1 million were more likely to say they had dropped a bundle in the past year. Thirty-three per cent of libraries with journal spending of less than $250,000 and 25 per cent of libraries with spending between $250,000 and $1 million had done so.