Library Consortia: Economic Crisis Could Mean Double-Digit Budget Reductions

Andrew Albanese -- Library Journal, 01/21/2009

• ICOLC asks publishers and vendors to work flexibly
• Effects of economic downturn seen as severe
• Solutions suggested regarding price, payment, "big deal"

(This article first appeared in the January 20 issue of the LJ Academic Newswire.)

In a statement hinting at just how deeply the current economic crisis will impact academic libraries, the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC), an international, informal group currently comprising approximately 200 library consortia worldwide, commented on the current economic crisis—and made an overture to publishers. 

In its “Statement on the Global Economic Crisis and its Impact on Consortial Licenses,” ICOLC suggested that the effects of the economic downturn on library budgets will be severe, and “prolonged,” and ICOLC signatories asked publishers and vendors to work flexibly with library consortia to get through the crisis—however long it may take.

“No one really knows yet what the bottom will be or how long it will last,” OhioLink executive director Tom Sanville told the LJ Academic Newswire. “But it is clear we are beginning to enter annual cycles where there is a full impact. We don’t think these will be momentary or insignificant blips.”

Projections 
In the statement, ICOLC members said it may not be uncommon for library and consortia budgets to “decline by double digits year over year,” reductions that unlike “the sporadic or regional episodes experienced from year to year” could serve as “real and permanent reductions to base budgets.” The current negative economic climate, in many cases, is also being amplified by fluctuating exchange rates.

Further, as tough as things are already, ICOLC reminded readers that the full impact of this recession has yet to be felt. “We have yet to see the full effects, as many 2009 journal and database subscriptions have already been renewed,” the statement pointed out. “By calendar and fiscal 2010, the cuts will be in full force and widespread.” It may take years, ICOLC said, even after the global economy begins to rebound, for libraries to recover. “The public and education sectors will likely lag in funding recovery,” the statement read. 

To cope, ICOLC urged content providers to recognize the magnitude of the current crisis—and to work with consortia on creative solutions. “Library consortia are uniquely positioned,” the statement suggested, “to create solutions that provide the greatest good for the greatest number.”

Principles and approaches
While not offering “prescriptive” solutions, ICOLC offered two guiding principles, and five “approaches” to help “maintain the broadest base” of subscribing libraries and services. The guiding principles include seeking flexible pricing and working to limit content or access reductions. “It is in the publisher’s best interest that we avoid all-or-nothing, take-it-or-leave-it decisions and options,” the statement read. “Content, once discontinued, will be very difficult to reinstate at a later date.” With these two principles in mind, ICOLC’s  suggested approaches include:

• Trade features for price: “Libraries will have few if any resources to invest in new titles or more content elements,” the statement noted. “Publishers that work with the scholarly communities to understand what content is critically needed will be the most successful.”
• Put price first: “Real price reductions…can help to sustain relationships through the hard times,” ICOLC observed. “Even increases at inflation levels will not be supportable by many groups and libraries.”
• Tailor plans and prices: “customized approaches,” and “multiple, creative options” are needed so that library consortia can work with their members to fashion “the optimal purchase level.”
• No “big deal?” Multi-year contracts, the statement noted, “will be possible only with clear opt-out and/or reduction clauses,” that avoid “penalizing customers in either the long or short term.”
• Creative payment options: annual payments are most prevalent, but “options will be needed for semi-annual or quarterly payment schedules, in combination with more flexible opt-out/reduction clauses and renewal cycles.” Many libraries and consortia, ICOLC warned, may have little advance notice of changes in their budgets. 

Of course, observers will note that the guiding principles and the approaches suggested by the ICOLC statement are much the same as those that libraries have pushed for in less severe economic times. Now, however, as an economic crisis collides with what some have termed a serials crisis, circumstances are clearly different. “We expect we will have no choice, economically, but to change our purchasing practices,” Sanville explained to LJAN.  “That is why we thought we needed to issue this statement.” 

ICOLC said it hoped the statements will serve as 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.” And, the statement suggested in closing, the tough times may even offer a silver lining: “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.”

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