RLUK Develops Journal Subscription Analysis Tool

Research Libraries UK (RLUK), a consortium of 30 of the largest research organizations in the UK and Ireland, revealed a new tool at a July workshop that will allow its members to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of "big deals" --- the large aggregations of journals from publishers sold as a single package. The new tool will allow libraries to make more informed decisions about how to allocate shrinking budgets, which are increasingly under a strain from the price of the big deals.

The RLUK recently drew a line in the sand over these packages, refusing to agree to new deals unless there was a significant price reduction. Some of these packages now cost RLUK members over 1 million pounds a year.

The new model will allow RLUK members to determine whether there would be cost savings if they moved back to title-by-title purchasing. According to a press release from RLUK, the model allows each member to combine pricing information with the usage their community makes of the relevant journals. The library can then alter the combination of title-by-title subscriptions and document delivery options and compare the costs of these combinations to the cost of the big deals.

Initial testing showed that the majority of downloads comes from a minority of journals, with some titles being used only sporadically. This offers the possibility that for some combinations of subscriptions and document delivery the total cost will be less than the cost of the big deal.

RLUK is also working with its members on ways in which document delivery can be improved and made more efficient.