Harvard Skepticism of Elsevier Journal Bundle the Tip of the Iceberg
The Library Journal reports that Harvard University is weighing seriously its renewal of a multi-year package of eJournals from Reed Elsevier, a package made available through the Northeast Research Library consortium. As much as the bundle can be a saver with the 20 other universities that purchase the content collectively, tight budgets are forcing Harvard to consider how to purchase specific journals that return value more efficiently and effectively. Harvard is not alone, apparently: the article cites a recent Association of Research Libraries (ARL) study in which 40 percent of respondents indicated that they were "planning to cancel or were considering canceling a bundled package this year." The emerging trend towards research being distributed through non-traditional channels is doubtless part of Harvard's concern about signing a relatively long-term deal. It's a quiet way of saying that the aggregation business is going to be very different three years from now - and sooner.