[Reading-hall-of-fame] This is a memo from our Provost about the rising cost of electronic journals.

[P Pearson]

I think that this development within the publishing industry--and we see it
with Sage, Elvesier, Taylor and Francis in our own field--will eventually
drive academia into some sort of low cost electronic publishing enterprise
of its own. After all, we do the research, write the manuscripts, edit the
journals, and assign the readings.  And the publishers are capitalizing on
a lot of free labor only to charge us, the producers, exorbitant rates that
far exceed production costs.

Note that the more journals we start (in order to accommodate more
publications by ourselves) the more we contribute to the problem. It is
little wonder then that many faculty and students try to beat the system
with bootleg distribution of articles.  But then again, that just motivates
publishers to jack up the prices even more.

Whoever said that academics were not naive?
****************
>From our UCB provost:

Colleagues,

The University Library is undertaking a $1 million reduction in
expenditures to purchase or license scholarly resources.  We would like to
explain why, and then seek your participation in the process.

For many years, market power in the scholarly publishing industry has been
increasing.  As a consequence, the price of scholarly resources has been
increasing faster than general inflation: in recent years, journal and
monograph prices at a rate of 3-5% per year.  In addition, journal
publishers are proliferating the number of journals published, many of
inferior quality.  The combined effect is a persistent and rapid increase
in the cost of scholarly resources.  We cannot spend an ever increasing
share of campus funds on journals and books unless we are willing to spend
less in other areas (such as faculty compensation).  Harvard University
described this as an “untenable situation” and “fiscally unsustainable” in
2012.  Berkeley is in no better position.  Thus, we continuously review,
and necessarily reduce our licensing of journals and acquisition of books.

To complicate matters, in the past year, like all units across campus, the
Library faced a sizable cut in campus funds.

The $1 million reduction in licensing and acquisitions is a necessary
response to the combination of the ongoing exploitation by publishers, and
the current year’s permanent reduction in campus funding.

A call for comment, issued by the University Library, encourages all
interested parties to carefully review a list of proposed serial
cancellations and to share comments and recommendations. (For more
information see the Library’s guide
<http://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/c.php?g=706910&p=5020003> and savings
proposal
<http://guides.lib.berkeley.edu/scholarly-resources/proposed-savings>.) The
proposed cancellations were identified after careful evidence-based
balancing of needs and costs. The comment per iod is open through Friday,
April 6. We invite you to submit comments via email to
scholarly-resources at lists.berkeley.edu or directly with your subject
librarian <http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/help/subject-specialists>.

The Library regrets that it must implement this reduction. Providing access
to scholarly resources is one of the Library’s core services, but the
sequence of recent budget cuts and cost increases have necessitated
reductions in all of its core services. The Library will continue to serve
campus as a public good that benefits the entire Berkeley community —
connecting researchers with an impressive breadth and depth of materials.

-- 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
P. David Pearson
Evelyn Lois Corey *Emeritus* Professor of Instructional Science
and Professor of the Graduate School
Graduate School of Education
5645 Tolman Hall #1670
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley CA 94720-1670
GSE Office: 510 6543 6508
fax 510-642-4799
email:  ppearson at berkeley.edu
other e-mail:  pdavidpearsondean at gmail.com
website for presentations:  www.scienceandliteracy.org
website for publications:
https://bspace.berkeley.edu/portal/site/~189290/page/fc6f1431-1058-4118-80f1-9249dd68c3b6
*******************
Home:  851 Euclid Ave
Berkeley, CA  94708 -1305
Home #: 510 526 6986
iPhone:  510 543 6508
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