Over the last few years, the cost of journal subscriptions has risen at an astonishing pace - outpacing national inflation and the finite budgets of libraries. Large journal packages ("big deals") have become increasingly unsustainable. Libraries and institutions all over the world are now scrutinizing these big deals, resisting predatory and exploitative publishing models, and cancelling big deal contracts.
The library recently completed an extensive review of our subscriptions with Elsevier including, spending, usage data, spend across programs, and collection aspirations for those same programs. This analysis also included future cost predictions for Elsevier, as well as extensive research of possible replacements from multiple competitors. As a result of this work, we will be canceling our own subscriptions with Elsevier at the end of December, 2021 and installing a combination of replacement products. In January of 2021, the library surveyed the university faculty, and utilized that feedback in the selection of these replacement products.
We understand that this is a big change, and that it will take some time to make the necessary preparations in your course materials. Please use the information on this website to jumpstart the process. We will send out periodic reminders as important deadlines approach.
Our ongoing commitment to the University of Lynchburg community is to get you what you need in the most timely manner possible, whether through direct subscription, interlibrary loan, access to venues that provide access, or cooperative borrowing agreements for those materials.