In our challenging economic environment, libraries are struggling\u2014as are we all\u2014to live within our budget. Our goal at HSLS is to provide access to as much online content as possible. In the past, annual price increases for scholarly journals averaged between 7-10%.\u00a0 These increases are clearly unaffordable this year.<\/p>\n
The publishers and vendors with whom we work have responded to our budget challenges in different ways. Some publishers seem to be unaware of economic problems\u2014or are unwilling to work with their customers in difficult times\u2014and have increased prices for 2010 by 5-15%, or even more. These practices are unacceptable.<\/p>\n
But other publishers understand our challenges and have announced they will not increase their prices for 2010. They recognize our users\u2019 need for the articles they publish,\u00a0 and are cognizant of the unprecedented financial constraints that libraries face.<\/p>\n
We commend the following publishers, among others, for freezing their rates for 2010 renewals:<\/p>\n
We continue to work with other publishers and vendors to provide us with financial relief during this coming year, knowing that if we have to cancel electronic resources because of cost, it will be difficult to re-start these subscriptions in future years.<\/p>\n
A list of publishers who have agreed to freeze prices for 2010 is available from the Medical Library Associations\u2019 Ad Hoc Committee for Advocating Scholarly Communications<\/a>.<\/p>\n More detailed information regarding the economic crisis and libraries can be found on the Web sites of\u00a0 academic library consortia that have published letters to scholarly publishers regarding the economic situation and pricing for academic resources. On February 19, 2009, the Association of Research Libraries published their \u201cARL Statement to Scholarly Publishers on the Global Economic Crisis<\/a>\u201d referencing a similar statement from the International Coalition of Library Consortia<\/a> dated January 19, 2009.<\/p>\n